A Year Too Early
by lord Sirius Peverell
Summary: What if naruto decided to paint the hokage monument a year early resulting in the conversation with Iruka Umino? This is my answer to Dzerx's challenge. How far will naruto go with him taking himself seriously one year sooner? Only time will tell. One thing though, his destiny will irrevocably be changed by this. Au.
1. Chapter 1

A year too early

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor anything that is associated with it. This merely a work of Fanfiction, as if I fooled you into think this is the real deal. Its not like the website is called .**

A/N: So this my answer to Dzerx's challenge. the challenge is : **What if Naruto had decided to paint the Hokage monument a year early resulting to the discussion with Iruka Umino?** I stumbled on to this when I was favouriting him after he had had favourited my story and I haven't been able to get it out of mind since. Be warned the first chapter is likely going to be word for word the same as the Manga.

 **Chapter 1 - Year Four shinobi academy exam**

* * *

A village filled with high buildings made of wood could be seen, behind it were great mountains and trees. On one of these mountains were four great stone face that were carved into the mountain.

On closer inspection one would be able to discern that these great stone faces have been desecrated. The most common factor with each stone face was a trail of paint originating from the nose - this signified a nose bleed - and ending on the chin, as if to say each one of these great stone faces were all perverts.

The first to the left had a spiral on his cheek, then the next had faeces painted on his cheek as well as a tongue licking the bottom of his chin. The next had two stripes originating from the corner of his eyes and running down his cheeks till his chin. The last face merely had two spirals painted on his cheeks.

On even closer inspection a young boy of small stature could be found in front of the head closest to the left. He had a rope tied to his waist that was anchored a little higher up on the mountain.

The boy had wild blonde hair, blue eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek. He wore a pair of forest green goggles on his head, a short-sleeved navy-blue shirt, a thick orange jacket tied around his waist, thick orange pants and navy-blue shinobi sandals.

Every so often the wind would carry his cackles of glee through the village. "Wa hahah!" and every so often every citizen of the village would shudder in fear, and jump at shadows.

* * *

An elderly man could be found peacefully practising his calligraphy while he smoked a pipe filled with tobacco. He had wild grey hair and a receding hair line, brown eyes and a liver spot or two on the left side of his face, he had three distinct wrinkles that stemmed from each of his eyes - much like the whisker marks on his fellow villager's face, not too far way from him - He had grey goatee that was almost chest length, it looked rugged yet had some elegance to it .He wore elegant white and red robes and sandals.

"Hokage-sama!"

The elderly man smudged his calligraphy, and resisted the urge to sigh. 'Iruka-kun is here? That must mean its something to do with Naruto.' he tried to keep the annoyance from his voice when he spoke. "What's wrong is Naruto causing trouble again?"

"Yes, he is vandalising the Hokage monument!"exclaimed the shinobi next to Iruka, Ishin Tosuke if he wasn't mistaken - a member of the fire corps.

"And this time with paint!"exclaimed Iruka.

'Vandalising the Hokage monument with paint? Not even your mother went that far! The worst she did was beat up bullies!' the Hokage sighed as he placed his rhombus shaped, two-tone, red and white hat with the kanji for fire emblazoned in the only white background in front on his head.

* * *

 **(Hokage Monument - Naruto)**

"Hey stop this!"

"Stop causing trouble!"

"Look at what he did!"

"You'll pay for this!"

There were numerous shouts from the rooftop near the Hokage monument, but Naruto didn't seem fazed by this. In fact he grinned openly at their threats. "Shut up you morons! None of you would be able to do something like this!" he exclaimed."But I can because I'm incredible!"

"Geez. . .what has that idiot done?"

"Hm?" said the Hokage, looking around.

He then noticed that Iruka stepped on to the rail of the rooftop with one of his legs. "Hokage-sama I apologise for this."

"Oh! Iruka." said the Hokage in recognition.

Iruka puffed his chest out as if taking a great big breath. "What the hell are doing during class time?! Get down here you moron!"

"Oh no! That's Iruka-sensei." exclaimed Naruto as he flailed around in his makeshift harness.

* * *

 **(Naruto - Iruka - Academy classroom)**

Naruto sat on the floor in the classroom, he was tied up with a rope - probably the same rope that he used as a harness for his latest prank - he turned to the side dejectedly. "Bleh..."

"Tomorrow is the shinobi academy's year four final exam and you've failed the Ninjutsu portion last year! This isn't the time to be causing problems!Idiot!"

"Whatever. . ."said Naruto nonplussed.

"Time for a Henge no Jutsu(Transformation Jutsu) test! Everyone line up."Iruka scowled. "Transform perfectly into me."

"What!"exclaimed the class.

The class soon gathered in the front after Iruka untied Naruto. A civilian boy transformed perfectly into Iruka after forming the ram hand-seal. Dark hair pulled together in a high pony, dark eyes, a scar over the nose. He wore a dark blue cloth around his forehead with a metal plate that had a stylised leaf engraved into it, a long-sleeved dark-blue shirt, with a red spiral sewn on the side of each shoulder, a forest green flak-jacket filled with pocket in front and a great red spiral on the back, dark-blue ankle-length pants with combat wraps on the right leg above the knee, and around the ankles and the hem of the pants and dark blue shinobi sandals.

"Okay good."said Iruka making a note on his clipboard. "Next, Uzumaki Naruto."

"This is all you fault." said one of Naruto's fellow civilian academy students said.

"Like I care." said Naruto with his hands on his hips as he stepped forward. 'Man this sucks.'

As he got to the front he adjusted his goggles and smiled mischievously. 'Here we go, hehehe!'

He made a ram hand seal, and his face became uncharacteristically focussed. Chakra and smoke whipped violently around Naruto. "Ninpou: Henge no Jutsu(Ninja art: Transformation Jutsu!)"

Naruto transformed into a woman with long pigtails of blonde hair, blue eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek. she wore nothing, and this showed off her bountiful breast, the only thing obscuring the nipples was a thin trail of smoke. Additionally she had a firm stomach and long shapely legs. There were trails of smoke obscuring all the important bits around her person.

She smiled saucily as she made a kissing gesture towards Iruka.

Iruka's jaw dropped so low, Naruto was beginning to think that his Jutsu had broken it, then suddenly a huge gush of blood burst from his nose propelling him several feet backwards.

Naruto dropped the transformation before laughing uproariously. "I call this one Ninpou:Oiroke no Jutsu(Ninja Art: Sexy Jutsu)!'"

"You moron! Don't invent stupid Jutsu!"raged Iruka, blood still dripping from his nose.

'Heh! who's the moron? You still have blood dripping from your nose, in my book that works.' Naruto didn't voice his thoughts, he knew that he upset Iruka enough already.

* * *

 **(Hokage Monument - Naruto and Iruka)**

Naruto was currently cleaning the mess he had made on the Hokage monument. Aiding him in this endeavour was a platform tied to the top of the mountain with a pulley system.

He scrubbed at the stone unenthusiastically, merely going through the motions.

"I wont let you go until everything is as it has to be."said Iruka, his arms folded.

"Like I care its not as if I have anyone to go home to." Naruto said carelessly as he scrubbed away.

"Naruto. ."said Iruka sympathetically.

"What?"asked Naruto while squinting.

"Well um, if everything is all cleaned up. ."Iruka scratched his nose. "I'll buy you ramen tonight."

Naruto brightened dramatically. "Okay, I'll work as hard as I can!"

* * *

 **(Naruto and Iruka - Ichiraku Ramen)**

"Naruto?"

"Hmm?"answered Naruto while he slurped his ramen.

"Why were you doing that to the monument? Don't you know who the Hokage are?"asked Iruka curiously.

"Of course I know! Basically those that get the Hokage title are the strongest in the village right? And among them the Yondaime Hokage, a hero who saved the village from a demon fox."said Naruto.

"Then why?" asked Iruka.

"Well, one day I'm going to get the Hokage title and then I will surpass all the previous Hokage!" exclaimed Naruto boisterously. "And then I'll make the village acknowledge my strength." Naruto then brought his palms together. "Umm, Iruka-sensei I have a little request."

"What you want another bowl of ramen?"asked Iruka.

"No, can I borrow your forehead protector?"asked Naruto, giving Iruka puppy-dog eyes.

"Oh this? No, this is what you get after you graduate. This symbol is that you've come of age." said Iruka as he held his forehead protector between his thumb and index fingers.

"Fine! Then I want another bowl of ramen." said Naruto in a sullen voice.

* * *

 **(next day - academy classroom - Naruto)**

"To pass the Ninjutsu portion of the exam you have to do the Ninpou: Bunshin no Jutsu(Ninja Art: Clone Jutsu.)When you're called come to the next room." said Iruka.

'Oh no, not that one its my worst Jutsu!' Naruto stressed to the point that he was sweating bullets.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto walked into the next room. 'But I'll do it! Watch this.'

Naruto made three hand seals: Ram - Snake - Tiger

"Bunshin no Jutsu." a plume of smoke appeared and in its wake a dead looking clone of Naruto laid piteously on the floor.

Naruto eyes bulged and Iruka sweatdropped. "Fail!"

"Iruka. .this is his second time and he did create a clone." said the chunin next to Iruka, he wore the same outfit as he Iruka sans the forehead protector. He had shoulder-length silver-grey hair, there were three bangs on either side of his face and two branching out form the middle of his forehead. He had grey eyes and rather large build. "we could give him a pass, it will at the very least give him some extra credit next year."

"No way Mizuki! All the others created two clones and Naruto only created one and it was a useless one." said Iruka in rejection. "I cant give him a pass."

Naruto could do nothing but scowl.

* * *

 **(outside the academy - Naruto)**

Naruto sat dejectedly in a swing under the shade of a tree. He watched as parents congratulated their children on passing their forth year. "Great job! That's my son."

"Hey that kid. ." said a woman taking notice of Naruto.

"Yeah that's ' _the kid_ ' and he only passed by the skin of his teeth, I checked out all the scores. He cant do Ninjutsu to save his life. Next year he will fail." said the other woman.

"Well that's a good thing." said the other woman.

"He shouldn't become a shinobi."the other woman said in return. "Since he is-"

"Shh. .we're not supposed to talk about that."

Naruto scowled at the two women talking about him as if he couldn't even hear them, he took off running not wanting to hear any more.

Iruka came out looking for him but, he was interrupted by the Hokage. "Iruka I need to talk to you."

"Hai Hokage-sama"

* * *

 **(Inner Village - Naruto)**

Naruto walked dejectedly through the village kicking random pieces of litter around in his anger. "Naruto."

Naruto turned around at the sound of a familiar voice. "Mizuki-sensei?"

The two jumped onto one of the balconies near them, and sat down. "Iruka-sensei is a serious person, his parents died when he was no older than you are and he had to take care of everything by himself."

"But why does he always pick on me?"asked Naruto.

Mizuki gave him a side along glance as the wind blew his hair to the side, and smirked a little. "He probably sees himself in you. He is probably thinking that he wants you to become strong from your own hard work."said Mizuki. "Try to understand since you have no parents either."

"But I just wished that I had passed." sighed Naruto.

Mizuki narrowed his eyes. "In that case. . ."

"Hm?"asked Naruto.

"I'll tell you a secret."

"What secret?"asked Naruto.

"This is a special exam that wont only give you a pass, but also allow you to graduate. Hows that sound?" asked Mizuki.

"What!? How?"

"Simple, all you need to do is steal the scroll of forbidden Jutsu from the Hokages residence, go to a forest clearing just outside of the villages north-wall and learn one of the Jutsu from the scroll."said Mizuki.

* * *

 **(Naruto - Hokage residence)**

Naruto shimmed his way across a ledge near the window of the Hokage residence. He quickly made his way into the building, but before he made it to the scroll he was stopped by the Hokage. "What do you think you're doing in my house at the hour?"

Naruto panicked before he was sparked with an idea. 'It worked on Iruka-sensei, didn't it?' Naruto turned around making a ram hand seal. "Ninpou:Oiroke no Jutsu(Ninja Art: Sexy Jutsu)." after he transformed into the the rather fetching mostly naked girl blood gushed from the Sandaime's nose, and he was knocked unconscious from the blood loss.

Naruto soon made his way into a library that was filled with scrolls of varying sizes and colours. He searched from the bottom, and he soon came upon a scroll with a strap on it. He read the title. 'Found it!'

Naruto strapped it to his back before jumping out of the window. Little did he know that his actions were being monitored by Mizuki, who for unknown reasons had an evil expression on his face.

* * *

 **(Naruto - forest clearing)**

Naruto sat down on the forest floor and unrolled part of the scroll. "Hmm, the first Jutsu is 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Ninja Art: Shadow clone Jutsu.)" said Naruto. "Come on that's like my worst Jutsu!"

* * *

 **(Iruka - Umino Iruka's apartment)**

Iruka laid solemnly on his bed as he recalled his conversation with the Hokage.

" **Iruka. . ."**

" **Yes Hokage-sama?"**

" **I understand how you must feel. . .but he is very similar to you."**

Iruka's eyes darkened suddenly under the light of the image of the demon fox flashed and the night it attacked flashed through his mind.

 **It stood higher than Hokage monument, it stood so high that its nine tails that were covered in deep crimson fur obscured the light of the moon. The eyes. . . He remembered them most of all, they were deep red as if they were dipped in blood, and its pupil was slitted black. Around its eyes was deep black patterning that looked like shadow that extended all the way to its long ears.**

 **Its presence projected nothing but malice, and what could they hope to do against this beast? Its lone paw was five times bigger than they were.**

" **We have to stand our ground until Yondaime-sama arrives!" commanded a shinobi with a particularly haggard and bloodied face.**

 **Suddenly Iruka was dragged backwards by the man. "Let me go! My mom and dad are still fighting!"**

Knock! Knock!

Iruka was broken from his recollections by a loud knock on his door. He quickly put on his shinobi sandals and answered the door. "What is it?"

"We have to go to Hokage-sama's place. . . Naruto has stolen the scroll of forbidden Jutsu as a prank."

The two shinobi disappeared a whirlwind of leaves and reappeared at the Hokages residence. Where a number of shinobi had already gathered.

"He wont get away with this one Hokage-sama."said two particularly grizzly shinobi.

"Yes that is a dangerous scroll that was forbidden by the previous Hokage. If it is misused it could be fatal for Konoha and Naruto both." said the Sandaime Hokage, he took a puff from his pipe. "Its been about twelve hours since Naruto took the scroll, we must hurry and find Naruto."

'I should check the forestry around Konoha.' thought Iruka.

* * *

 **(Mizuki)**

'I should spread the word throughout the village a little more. Then I'll get rid of Naruto and make it look like he disappeared with scroll.' were Mizuki's malicious thoughts as he sped through the village.

* * *

 **(Forestry near the north-wall)**

Naruto had the scroll of forbidden Jutsu strapped to his back. He was a right sight to behold. He had scratches and scrapes littering his whole body, from his face all the way to his clothing.

"I've found you!" Iruka grinned.

"Hey! I found the nose-bleeder!"shouted Naruto.

"Baka! I found you!" shouted Iruka, before giving Naruto a stern look.

"Hehehe! You found me. . .I've only learned one Jutsu."remarked Naruto sheepishly.

"Hey! you look all beaten up, what were you doing here?"asked Iruka.

"Never mind that, hey! I'm going to try an incredible Jutsu. . .if I do please let me graduate."said Naruto.

'So, practising here? Enough to damage his body.' Iruka then asked Naruto. "Naruto?"

"Hm?"

"Where did you get that scroll?"asked Iruka.

"Oh this? Mizuki-sensei told me about it, and this place too."grinned Naruto. "He said if I showed you this Jutsu, I'd definitely graduate."

'Mizuki.' Iruka thought in surprise, then he felt something, he quickly pushed Naruto aside and covered his face as a salvo of kunai came out of the foliage. He got cut and stabbed by a lot of the kunai while the others were in-bedded in the tree around him.

Iruka began to pull the kunai from his body. "Nice try finding the moron!" shouted Mizuki. He now had a bandanna over his head with metal plate - with a stylised leaf carved in it - pinned to the cloth, on his back he had two great Shuriken attached to it.

"I see. . .so that's what's going on."said Iruka as he took out more of the kunai.

"Naruto give me the scroll!" shouted Mizuki.

"Hm? What? What the hell is going on here?"shouted Naruto in confusion.

"Naruto! Whatever happens do not give him that scroll!"shouted Iruka. "That's a dangerous scroll that has forbidden Ninjutsu written inside of it. Mizuki used you to get what's written inside of it."

Naruto looked down in betrayal. "Naruto there's no point in you having it." said Mizuki. "I'll tell you the truth."

Iruka was confused until it hit him. 'His going to tell him that?' Iruka then yelled. "N. .No! Don't!"

"Twelve years ago. .you know about the demon fox being sealed right?"asked Mizuki.

Naruto gave him a look as if to say 'Are you stupid?'

"Since that day, a special law has been created for this village."

"A law?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"But the law was never meant to be told to you."said Mizuki, starting to enjoy himself.

"Not to me? What is this law? Tell me!"shouted Naruto.

Mizuki chuckled evilly.

"What kind of law?"asked Naruto.

"The law is that nobody is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the nine-tailed Demon-fox" said Mizuki evilly.

"What?" Naruto's eyes wide and vacant."What do you mean?"

"Stop it!"shouted Iruka.

"It means that you are the nine-tailed demon-fox that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village."said Mizuki, now cackling with glee. "You were sealed up by the Hokage you admire and -"

"Stop it!" Iruka tried to cut him off.

"You have been lied to by everyone! Didn't you find it odd how everyone hates you?"Mizuki reared a giant Shuriken back. "Iruka is the same! He also hates you!"

Naruto's eyes widened. 'Damn it!' chakra erupted around Naruto whipping up sand as his fingers became more claw-like.

Iruka was brought back to his discussion with the Hokage. **"He has never known a parents love and is hated by all the villagers"**

He then heard Mizuki shout. "Nobody will ever love you!"

" **So to get attention he acts out. He wants people to acknowledge his existence in any possible way."**

"A Jutsu from that scroll was used to seal you up!"a malicious grin adorning his visage.

" **He acts tough, but he is truly suffering"**

Suddenly Iruka shielded Naruto with his body, taking a gain Shuriken to the back, that sputtered his blood everywhere. "Guurg."Iruka grimaced in pain, blood pooling in his mouth.

"Why?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Iruka looked down casting a shadow over his eyes. "My parents. . .after they died there was nobody to compliment or acknowledge me. I always acted like an idiot just to get peoples attention. Since I wasn't good at things like learning or doing homework, it was better than being nothing, so I kept acting like an idiot." said Iruka, tears streaking down his cheeks. "It was so painful. . Naruto, you also must of been full of pain. .I'm sorry Naruto if only I did a better job you wouldn't have to feel like this."

Naruto looked at him sadly before a look of fear took over and he bolted away from the clearing.

"Naruto!"Iruka yelled, but it was to no avail, he kept running.

"You saw those eyes earlier, the eyes of a real demon."remarked Mizuki.

"Ah!"Iruka pulled the giant Shuriken from his back. "Naruto isn't like that."

"Well that doesn't matter I'll kill Naruto." said Mizuki before sprinting off.

* * *

 **(somewhere in Konoha)**

"We should of killed him!" shouted a shinobi in glasses. "Now we must find him before he releases the demons power."

Another shinobi shared his opinion. "If you find him, kill him!"

* * *

 **(Hokage residence - the Sandaime Hokage)**

"I finally found him"said the Sandaime as a image of Naruto appeared in the crystal ball that was between his palms. "Mizuki told him and now he is more afraid than he has ever been."

'The power that is sealed may be released. .plus he is holding the scroll of forbidden Jutsu, the odds of him him being able to break the seal and release the fox from his body is one in a million, but there is still a possibility, and if that happens. . .'

* * *

 **(Forest)**

"Found him.' said Iruka as Naruto came into sight. "Naruto! Hurry up and give me the scroll Mizuki is after you."

Naruto landed on a branch before swiftly turning around and tackling Iruka out of the sky.

"Huh? Why Naruto?" asked Iruka in a pained tone.

"How did you know I wasn't Iruka?"asked Mizuki.

"Heheheh!" Naruto laughed before bursting into smoke. Iruka and a wooden log remained in its wake."I'm Iruka."

"I see."

Neither of them were aware of Naruto hiding behind a tree near their location.

"You would even Henge(Transform) into the thing that killed your parents to protect him." said Mizuki in disgust.

"I wont hand the scroll over to someone like you! You are such an idiot if you cant see that Naruto and I are the same." said Iruka.

"If you use the Jutsu on the scroll you can do whatever you want."said Mizuki. "There is no way that a demon fox wouldn't use the power of the scroll, unlike what you are assuming."

"Yeah. ."drawled Iruka.

'I knew it. .see even Iruka-sensei deep down doesn't acknowledge me." thought Naruto darkly.

"The demon-fox would do that, but Naruto is different, he is. . .I've acknowledged him as one of my excellent students. He may not be the hardest worker and he is clumsy and nobody accepts him. . .he already knows what it is to feel pain inside his heart."said Iruka. "He isn't the demon fox, he is a member of the Konoha no Sato."

Naruto lowered his head as he silently cried.

"He is Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Well whatever. ."said Mizuki as he grabbed his giant Shuriken from his back.

Iruka slide down from the tree he was resting against as he grimaced in pain. "Iruka I said I would take care of you later but I changed my mind."he reared the Shuriken back and got ready to throw it. "Hurry up and die."

Just as Mizuki go ready to launch the Shuriken Naruto dashed from behind the tree and hit him with a running knee to the jaw that sent him falling backwards.

'Naruto!' Iruka thought in surprise.

"You shouldn't have done that!" Mizuki's voice was dripping in contempt.

"Don't touch Iruka-sensei!" said Naruto, the scroll of forbidden Jutsu at his side. "I'll kill you!"

"You idiot! Why did you come out!? Run away!" shouted Iruka in fear.

"Hahaha! I'll kill someone like you in one shot." shouted Mizuki.

"Try it trash! I'll return the favour a thousand time over!" shouted Naruto darkly, his index and middle fingers from each hand creating a criss-cross hand seal.

"Then do it! Demon-fox!"shouted Mizuki.

"Ninpou:Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Ninja Art: Shadow clone Jutsu!)"yelled Naruto as a great plume of smoke covered the entire area. When it cleared all that could be seen was Naruto. He was on the ground, in the trees, on every branch that could support his weight. He was practically a sea of orange.

"What? What's going on?"asked Mizuki in shock.

"What's wrong?"asked Naruto darkly. "weren't you going to kill me with one shot?"

"Naruto you have. ." Iruka looked on in surprise

"Well then, I'll start, OK?" yelled all the Naruto's - the clones and the original - in sync, it was mildly disconcerting, although not as disconcerting as the horde of Naruto's jumping on top of Mizuki, some of them merely dog-piling him, and the others lashing out with drop kicks, stomp kicks, mean running hooks and knees.

"Ahhhh!"Mizuki screamed in anguish as Naruto beat the living daylights out of him.

'Hehe, he really did divide more than a thousand. .each of them was a real body and not an illusion. Maybe he will surpass the previous Hokage.' Iruka thought internally.

Mizuki laid on the ground, broken and bruised, his face and nose misshapen to the point that he was almost unrecognisable.

"Hehe, I went a little too far."said Naruto sheepishly.

"Naruto come over here." said Iruka. "close your eyes."

Naruto closed his eyes nervously, and rightly so because after that Iruka nailed him on the head with his fist. "ow!"

"Now don't you ever do something so idiotic again!" shouted Iruka.

"Sorry sensei. ."Naruto looked down.

* * *

 **(Hokage residence)**

A whole contingent of shinobi were gathered in front of the Hokage. They were shouting amongst themselves.

"Did you find him?!"

"No!"

"Dammit this bad!"

"He could be far by now!"

"There's nothing to worry about."said the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama?"

"He'll be back soon. . Don't you worry, you can all retire for the night." said the Sandaime.

* * *

 **(Naruto and Iruka)**

Iruka lifted Naruto's chin. "Naruto I'm not mad. .er well maybe a little, but I'm actually very proud of you."

"So are you going to let me graduate?"asked Naruto.

"Kami no, just because you can do such an advanced Jutsu doesn't mean you are ready to be a shinobi." Naruto looked down. "Don't look so down Naruto, I'm doing this to protect you."

"Ha! You just watch me nose-bleeder-sensei! I'm going to show you! Next year I'll pass and I wont be dead-last any more, you better start scouting for a replacement because come next year you will be begging to give me that forehead-protector!"yelled Naruto.

Iruka laughed, coughing up blood as he did so. "Same old Naruto. . ."

* * *

 **(Next day - Naruto - Hokage residence)**

Naruto sat across from the Sandaime Hokage, his legs were getting stiff from his position in seiza. His weight rested on his knees and shins, while the soles of his feet touched his posterior.

"Naruto, I must ask you to pay rapt attention to me." said the Sandaime.

Naruto nodded. "Hai Hokage-ojisan."

The Sandaime took out a brush and an dipped it in ink, his hands fluidly drawing kanji on the paper. It took him a minute to complete, he placed his hand on the edge of the paper and made a half-tiger hand seal with his brush hand and the ink dried before Naruto's eyes. "This is a Fuinjutsu formula that is commonly used to store objects into it." the Hokage then procured a kunai from his sleeve and placed it on top of the formula. He pulsed his chakra into the edge of the seal, suddenly there was puff of smoke and when it cleared the kunai was gone.

"Is the kunai in the paper?" asked Naruto in confusion.

"Well yes, but technically its in the sealing formula. The paper is merely a medium to draw the formula on." said the Sandaime.

Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Now tell me what you see here."said the Hokage.

"A paper with scribbles on it."said Naruto.

"Remember the scribbles are called a fuinjutsu formula."

"fuinjutsu formula."replied Naruto.

"Good and where is the kunai?"asked the Sandaime.

"Its in the fuinjutsu thingy."said Naruto.

"the fuinjutsu formula."corrected the Sandaime. "And when I sealed the kunai in the formula did the paper become a kunai? Or did the formula become a kunai?"

"No, the kunai is in the fuinjutsu formula." said Naruto.

"Exactly, its the same with you Naruto, you are not the Kyuubi no kitsune. Your body was used as a canvas for a fuinjutsu formula where the beast is sealed into." said the Sandaime.

"Is it really that simple?"asked Naruto.

"Yes and no, while the fundamentals of it is straight forward, that seal is very powerful and very arcane, even my student Jiraiya does not know the full mechanics of that seal yet - and he is a fuinjutsu master - but the facts remain, you are not the Kyuubi, you are the gatekeeper, you keep the beast at bay protecting the village from harm. You are a hero."

Naruto started to tear up. "Thank you Hokage-Ojisama."

The Sandaime raised an eyebrow at Naruto's small show of respect towards him. "No problem Naruto, now we must move on to that Jutsu that you learned."

"Kage Bunshin?"asked Naruto.

"Yes Ninpou:Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Ninja Art: Shadow clone Jutsu) and its variation Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Ninja Art: Multiple shadow clone Jutsu.)"said the Sandaime. "The reason that you were able to use that Jutsu and not the academy clone Jutsu is because you have copious amounts of chakra, a little more than I had during my prime years of being a shinobi."

"Wow!"exclaimed Naruto. "I'm awesome."

The Sandaime chuckled. "That you are, however as a default of that you have absolutely horrendous control." a rain cloud suddenly appeared over Naruto's head. "Now onto why the Kage Bunshin is a kinjutsu, the first is because it requires at least high c-rank chakra, and even then it will be difficult to sustain the clone, and when it is struck you will be severely weakened, naturally this does not apply to you. The second reason that it is a kinjutsu is because when a clone is dispelled its consciousness is transferred to the user, if too many clones dispel at once it could cause major brain damage."

Naruto gave him a blank look. "Consciousness?"

"Yes the Kage Bunshin was created by my sensei the Nidaime Hokage of Konoha, Tobriama Senju. He invented this technique to be the ultimate spying tool. When the clone dispels it transfers the consciousness or the memories and experience of the clone to the user. That way the original will see and feel everything that his clones do." explained the Sandaime, his professor persona taking over.

"So, I could train with this Jutsu! And become super strong super quick!"exclaimed Naruto.

"No! Naruto if you use this technique to train you must limit the clones that you use for training to a maximum of twenty. It could cause severe brain damage, furthermore I want you to sort through the memories of the clone you dispel before you dispel the rest. You also need to make sure that whatever you are training in, be it Genjutsu, Ninjutsu or Taijutsu form or general school studies, make sure that you choose one exercise or topic and focus on that. Do not, I repeat do not study multiple things at once in hopes of learning faster. It could even send you into a coma." he gained a nod of fearful understanding from Naruto, before he continued. "and lastly you cannot use clones to train physically, it is a chakra construct and thus cannot transfer physical training, only exercises that contain muscle memory as that is a mental aspect."

"Whoa!"exclaimed Naruto. "That's a lot to remember."

"You just forgot everything didn't you?" said the Sandaime.

"Not everything. I remember that I can use the Kage Bunshin(Shadow Clone) to train, I have horrible chakra control and the Kage Bunshin(Shadow Clone) will hurt me if I use too many."

"Well that is the basics of it I suppose."sighed the Sandaime.

"You are lucky that I wrote this all down on a scroll, so that you can study it at home. It has a blood seal, so every time you open it, you will need to place some blood on the scroll for it to open."said the Sandaime.

"Thanks Hokage-ojisan." said Naruto.

'And we're back.' sighed the Sandaime.

"Hey Hokage-ojisan, how come the clone Jutsu didn't hurt when I fought Mizuki last night or give me memories?"asked Naruto.

"Because you were all seeing the same thing - at different angles mind you - and so your mind put it on a the back-burner, and when you went to sleep last night it was likely processed. But nothing fatal happened because of your incredible healing factor, partly because of the fox and partly because of your genes. Additionally you weren't consciously aware of the techniques side-effects and so it wasn't on the forefront of your mind when your clones dispelled." said the Hokage.

"Okay, I think I'm gonna go home and get some rest I'm still tired from last night."yawned Naruto.

"Very well, but before you go I want you to promise me something."said the Hokage.

"What is it Hokage-ojisan?"

"I want you to promise to me to stop pranking."said the Sandaime.

"To never prank again?" he asked wide-eyed.

"Look Naruto, Iruka has acknowledged you, and so have I. You don't need to keep throwing these stunts but I suppose you can still use your pranking mindset in fights."said the Sandaime.

"Huh?"

"What I mean is, that sneaky and creative side of you that assists you in creating and completing all your pranks - nobody even finds out until the pranks are done - I want you to use that side of you in fights, missions, tactics and planning. If you can do that, then I'm sure you can become a great shinobi."explained the Hokage.

"Hm, fine I promise that I'll never prank anyone again unless I'm fighting."swore Naruto.

"Good, just know that it will help you in the long run. You have to study and train very hard this year. So you will have no time to prank anyway."said the Sandaime.

"Hai, hai."sighed Naruto before leaving the Hokage residence.

"Hah! Take that Asuma-kun, Kakashi-kun! Your Icha-Icha limited edition is mine! Mine I say! Who said I couldn't get Naruto to stop pranking! I am the Hokage never doubt me."The Hokage stood up giving the empty air a fist-bump. And then his legs brushed against a rope that tied his legs together, and then released a bucket of orange paint on his head, the paint covered his elegant white and red robes, as well as his sitting area. "Naruto! You promised!"

* * *

 **A/N : So I may of drifted passed the discussion with Umino Iruka, I just felt that it would not cause a great enough change, so now I have Naruto learn about the Kyuubi a year early, the shadow clone Jutsu a year early, as well as the mechanics of the shadow clone Jutsu something like three years early. That's big enough of a change to really give Naruto a chance at not relying on luck. I mean everything he has ever achieved has been by luck, when he was kid that was fine, but when he had a three year training trip with one of the Sannin no less and to only get by with luck is ludicrous.**

 **Tell me what you think, and yes I know that this is basically the Manga written to paper, but I did warn you. It wont remain that way.**

 **I'll also be taking suggestions for team placements and sensei's since its unlikely for Naruto to be placed in team seven because he isn't going to be dead-last and this isn't a spoiler because if I made him become dead-last after learning the shadow clone Jutsu, promising to be better and learning the mechanics of the shadow clone Jutsu, then that would be completely and utterly stupid.**

 **Okay give me suggestion for pairing and I'll consider them. I'm leaning towards one that are around his age group so no older women. However under no circumstances will I be including Sakura and Hinata in this Fanfiction as a possible pairing for Naruto. So the available ones will be Ino, Tenten, Temari, Samui, Karui, Karin, Kurotsuchi, Yugito(younger) Haku(female)Kin Tsuchi, Tayuya. If there are any other girls in his age group you are free to suggest them.**

 **The same for his elemental affinity, I'm leaning towards fire or earth maybe both with either of the two being minor and the other being the primary affinity. Also some suggestions on a few specialities will be welcome, I have his first to shinobi branches, but a few more may be just what the doctor ordered.**


	2. Chapter 2

A year too early

Disclaimer:

Chapter 2: Training commences

* * *

 **(next day - Naruto)**

It had been a day since Naruto's conversation with the Sandaime Hokage. When he got home he sent a clone to the library to read one of the books, any book, the more random the book was, the better.

It took some manipulation, but he finally got his clone to go with the promise of ramen. The clone returned, ate some ramen and dispelled. That was when Naruto was hit by a great rush of information.

He stumbled slightly as he took a seat on one of his kitchen chairs. The book was about the five great shinobi nations, all the Daimo from beginning to when the book was last updated, the clans, the leading clans, clan alliances, then the hidden villages and following that all the Kage to ever hold the position.

Naruto was so amazed by all this information - information that he attained through his shadow clones hard and diligent work - that he brushed the slight throbbing in his head to the side. Though after a while it soon ceased, and then he found that he couldn't recall all the information that his clone transferred to him, soon all he could remember were the fundamentals of the information. Namely, the five Kage, the five villages, and that before hidden villages there were clans. Apart from that he couldn't recall the names of the clans, nor the Kage - except for the Kage of Konoha - and the Daimo.

"So. .I guess I have to study the books? Or maybe do it myself until I'm good enough or maybe. . .uh study with more clones? Yeah! That's what I'll do."said Naruto thoughtfully. "and. . Maybe I should ask Iruka-sensei for help."

He went to sleep that night, with thoughts of becoming stronger in mind.

When Naruto awoke, he quickly showered, brushed his teeth and inhaled a bowl of ramen. He donned his orange pants, a black shirt and his forest green goggles dangled around his neck. He rushed out of the apartment taking a swig of milk before he left, he made a face at the taste.

Naruto arrived at the academy, he was lucky to find it open. He hesitantly entered, not wanting to get into trouble if he was caught on the grounds out of actual academy designated hours.

Naruto went straight to his old class, taking note of the empty and desolate academy halls and classrooms. When he reached his classroom he peaked through the doors window, he couldn't see anyone in the class, so he decided to count this as a bust, that was until he noticed the door in the class open. It was the door that adjoined Iruka's class to his office.

Naruto entered the class, walking silently, and that's when he found Iruka packing a number of files and papers into boxes.

"Sensei?"said Naruto.

"Oh, Naruto? What are you doing here?"asked Iruka confused yet not surprised.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you sensei, what are you doing anyway?"asked Naruto, oddly subdued.

"I'm packing my stuff, I move classes with you guys next year."answered Iruka, giving Naruto a concerned look. "What did you want to talk about?"

Naruto paused for a moment, seemingly gathering his thoughts. "Iruka-sensei, I'm weak. You said it yourself, I'm clumsy, I'm not the hardest worker."Naruto took a breath. "I know you right that's why I want to be stronger."

Iruka beamed at him."I'm so proud of you Naruto." praised Iruka. "Not everyone can admit their faults. Not everyone can admit their weakness."

"That's why I'm here sensei -" Naruto suddenly stopped, while grabbing his stomach. "I'll be right back!"

Naruto bolted out of the room leaving Iruka feeling nothing but confusion. "What the? I hope his okay."

* * *

 **(Naruto - toilet)**

Naruto sat in one of the stalls in the boys bathroom, his face screwed up in concentration. Loud noises were escaping from the stall. "Man! That milk must of been spoiled."

It took a short while before his little bout of diarrhoea ceased and stomach cramps stopped. "The fox must be good for something!" Naruto left the bathroom, not even bothering to wash his hands.

When Naruto returned he found Iruka sitting at a table patiently. "Ah sorry about that sensei."said Naruto as he scratched his head sheepishly.

"What was that about?"asked Iruka.

"Uh, well it kinda embarrassing. ."Naruto trailed off.

"Its okay Naruto I wont laugh at you."said Iruka.

"Uh, okay, well I had a little diarrhoea." said Naruto. "I guess the milk was spoiled, heh, could of been worse if I didn't have the kyuu-"

"Shh!"Iruka had jumped over to him and covered his mouth. "Don't just talk about _it_ out-loud like that, it is still an s-rank secret and secondly, you need to be more careful with your health, you're going to be a ninja and that means death, you don't need to increase your chances of dying by being careless with your health."

"Man, you worry too much sensei."Naruto brushed him off. "As long as I have the ky-ur-um _it_ in me I don't have to worry, besides I always heal fast."

"No Naruto, you have to take care of yourself because if you _don't_ , your life wont be the only one at stake, but those of your teammates as well."

Naruto cocked his head in confusion. "What do you mean sensei?"

"We covered it this year Naruto, whatever. ."sighed Iruka. "since I have your attention I may as well explain it again."

Naruto nodded at Iruka, his eyes squinting, a clear sign that he was concentrating.

"So, there are various ninja ranks, some are sub-ranks or part of a certain department, but there are four main ranks."Iruka listed off his fingers. "Genin - the lowest rank - chunin, Jonin and Kage. In Konoha - though most of the ninja nations have adopted our system - there are usually squads of three. When ninja start out it is three genin and their jonin-sensei or superior."

Naruto nodded, in understanding. "When a genin squad is promoted to a chunin squad they usually form their own team of three, the missions with their sensei become less frequent and thus they are a team of three. Though recently, we have been incorporating a four squad system, the four squad system is composed of three combat or assist-type ninja, and a medical ninja."said Iruka, his lecture tone morphing into complete seriousness. "So, can you see how your carelessness may cause problems for your team?"

Naruto squinted at him thinking about it, Iruka gave him time, it was certainly humorous to watch him wrestle with it. "Because my teammates will have to save me, and then they might die trying to save me, and it will be all my fault."

"Exactly, so tell me again why did you come here?" asked Iruka.

"Because I'm weak, and I need your help to become strong. I know that I have to train, but I don't know what to do."said Naruto.

'The better question is what not to do.' thought Iruka. "You're asking for help?"Iruka asked instead.

Naruto looked down. "Yes, you said yourself that just because I can do an advanced technique, like the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Shadow Clone Jutsu), it doesn't make me a ninja." said Naruto." I need you to help me become a ninja."

Iruka was a silent for a moment, "Your clothes, they absolutely have to go."

"What!? Why? They're really strong, and ninja need clothes that can protect them."said Naruto indignantly.

"That may be true, however it has one major flaw. It is _orange._ " said Iruka.

"So what? Orange is awesome."

"You asked me to help you become a better ninja, this is what I'm doing, and orange is almost as bad as wearing black in the daylight.. You need clothes that are more soft, neutral colours. Like light grey, and brown, it makes stealth easier." said Iruka.

"Aww but I don't need stealth I'll just whack everyone bam! And then I don't need stealth!"said Naruto, grinning.

"No, if you want me to really help you, you're going to have to follow all of my orders no matter how it makes you feel on a personal level." said Iruka. "but if you don't want my help. . ."

"What. . !arrgh fine! I'll get other clothes damn it!"Naruto grounded his teeth.

"Great!"exclaimed Iruka. "Help me take my stuff to the next class, and rest of it home, then we'll go buy you new clothes before you can chicken out."

"But my money isn't with me."said Naruto.

"That's okay its on me."said Iruka, before Naruto was able to refuse. "Relax its only one outfit, and besides you're helping me carry my stuff, so it not like you're getting it for free."

Naruto nodded, only slightly placated. "Fine. . But I'm carrying everything." said Naruto crossing his arms and leaving no room for argument.

"You couldn't possibly-"said Iruka.

"Wanna bet?"asked Naruto, his grin stretching so wide he looked akin to a fox, he crossed his fingers in front of him and said. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Three clones appeared in a puff of smoke. "Don't you worry Iruka-sensei, we've got this." said one of the clones.

"Oi - oi!" said the other clone. "Who made you the leader."

"I did," said he first clone, "now pipe down!"

"Oh yeah!" said the second, throwing a punch, while the third clone snickered at their actions. The first clone was popped by the second, then the second turned to the third, his laughing was progressively becoming louder, while the original sank back in depression, a rain cloud over his head. "You think this funny do you?"

"Hell yeah!" laughed the clone. "You were all like who made you leader, and he was like I did, then you were like oh yeah and then you punched his light out!" chuckled the clone, then he noticed a punch aimed at his face. "Yeah like that - oof!" and then the clone popped into a cloud of vapour.

Naruto sighed dejectedly, then he made a hand seal dispelling the last clone. "Man this is so embarrassing!"

Iruka only stood to the side trying not to outright laugh at Naruto's expense.

Naruto formed the seal once more. "Alright listen up!"said Naruto as the smoke cleared. "You three need to carry those three boxes, no fighting, that's an order."

"Hai Oyabun!"the clones chorused.

"Sensei where do you want the boxes taken?" asked Naruto.

"Class 206." said Iruka.

"You heard him, take the boxes there and then dispel."said Naruto, his voice commanding.

"Hai!" they saluted and then picked up a box each and marched out of the classroom.

"Phew, at least they listened to me."sighed Naruto.

"Okay lets get this box to my apartment, and then its to Higurashi for your new clothes." said Iruka.

* * *

 **(Higurashi - shinobi tools and equipment)**

Naruto scanned the shop as he walked in, his eyes wide with awe. Then he back tracked, and returned to the entrance. In the front of the shop there was modest sign in appearance. It simply said: Higurashi - shinobi tools and equipment. It wasn't even above the store, it was a simple sign written by hand in the window of the store. Though one thing of note was that the hand writing was flawless, artistic even.

Naruto then took a careful look at the store, he quickly ran around it, then he returned to the store. "But that's impossible! This store cant be this wide! The wall is supposed to be there, and there, not theeeeeeeere! And theeeeeeeere!"exclaimed Naruto.

"Daddy says that he uses seals for that but I'm not sure how, all I can use are storage scrolls." said a girl that appeared beside Naruto.

Naruto jumped back in surprise. "Gyaaaaaa!"

The girl laughed heartily at him."Did I scare you?"

"Don't do that! My heart almost ran away!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Meh, think of it as training, you're going to be ninja, so this will teach you to pay better attention to your environment." said the girl, a hint of a smirk at her lips.

Naruto cocked his head curiously. "How did you know that I want to be a ninja?"

"Well that's easy, this is a store for ninja. Weapons, scrolls, chakra ink, shinobi clothes, training weights, mundane or chakra, chakra paper, if its ninja related, we have it!" said the girl. "Plus you're here with Iruka-sensei, you must want to be a ninja."

And indeed they did, because the store was filled to the brim with weapons, some were uniform, and others followed a certain style, that seemed to change slightly. Clothing of all colours, armour, scrolls both big and small, the list just went on and on.

"whoa, this place is really filled up."he was impressed. " and you're so smart!"

"So what are you here for?"she asked.

"New clothes, mine are. . .too colourful, yes that's it." said Naruto. "Oh and I'm Naruto by the way, future Hokage 'ttebayo!" Naruto finally took notice of her appearance, she had brown hair done in two tight buns on her head, brown eyes, she was beautiful in a athletic sort of way. She wore a pink qipao with red trimmings and yellow fastenings, dark green pants with combat wraps around the right leg, a kunai holster over the wraps, a ninja-tool pouch at the hip, blue shinobi sandals. "And uhh, what's your name?"

"I'm Tenten, my father runs this store."said Tenten. "and I can see why you need new clothes, yours are hideous."

"Hey! That's mean!"exclaimed Naruto.

"Yes, but it true, those clothes are an eyesore. Do you want me to help you pick out your clothes?"she asked.

"No."Naruto said stubbornly. "Just show me where the strong clothes are and I'll pick out my own clothes."

"Sure,"she chuckled. "we have armour and mesh-wire sewn in with the clothing."

"The clothing."said Naruto.

"Okay, go over there. You have enough to pay for it, don't you?"she asked.

"Iruka-sensei is paying."

"Okay, in that case the dressing rooms are there in the corner, just ditch your old clothes there, they will be taken care of."said Tenten.

Naruto nodded, before he scoured the store in search of new clothing. He soon found two shirts to his liking, then a pair of pants, new shinobi sandals, he decided to get additional accessories with the clothing, just to give him more protection.

Naruto walked into the changing room, he decided not to heed Iruka's advice, he was going to look cool. Naruto changed, he now wore a sleeveless high-collared black shirt shirt, a fishnet undershirt, grey forearm-protectors, black fingerless gloves with a metal plate behind the palm, dark grey pants with combat wraps around the right thigh and both ankles, grey shin-protectors, black shinobi sandals.

When Naruto returned Tenten gave him a whistle of approval, gaining a blush from Naruto.

"Its better than the orange I suppose."sighed Iruka. 'though he should of went for less obvious colours.'

"Okay lets go pay for all of that, I'm sure my dad will be at the counter." said Tenten.

When they arrived at the counter, there was a man leisurely leafing through a magazine. he had short dark hair cut into a buzz-cut, brown eyes, and a jagged scar running across his right cheek till half of his right ear, he was well built, yet lean. He wore a simple black shirt, a rebreather dangling from his neck, a animal-hide apron, the rest of his outfit was hidden behind the counter.

"Tousan, they're buying all the stuff that the gaki's wearing."said Tenten.

"Oi!oi! You're no older than me." said Naruto indignantly.

"You're still a brat."said Tenten.

Naruto ground his teeth. "Tenten stop mocking the gaki." said her father.

"Oi! Oi! Ojisan I heard that you made this shop super big, but its small on the outside." said Naruto, "You did that with a _fuinjutsu formula_!"Naruto grinned sounding impressed with himself. "right?"

"Yes," said the man sounding impressed that he knew so much for such a simple boy, oh he knew exactly who Naruto was, or more precisely what he was. But besides for his pranks the boy had a reputation for being immensely stubborn and stupid. Those kinds of people simply did not learn. "By the way the name is Daichi Tosuke, not ' _ojisan_ '."

"Wow that's so cool! Can you teach me?"asked Naruto. "please Daichi!"

"No." he said simply. "fuinjutsu is not something I can simply teach you, besides I don't have the time to teach fuinjutsu to a complete beginner." upon seeing his downcast expression he sighed. "Look if you master level three I'll take you on as a student."

Naruto grinned. "Just you wait, I'll master level three in no time!"exclaimed Naruto.

"Yeah whatever gaki, just give me my money." said Daichi.

Iruka dished at the cash. "Naruto is a bit of handful, sorry about that."

"Its fine."said Daichi.

* * *

 **(Ichiraku ramen - Naruto and Iruka)**

Naruto slurped his noodles greedily, though he was careful enough to not mess on his shirt. Ayame had gushed at the sight of him of course.

"Aww Naruto you look so cute with your ninja outfit. I can see that you will be handsome one day." she smiled brightly.

'Its not supposed to be cute. . .and besides I'm handsome now.' though he still found himself blushing.

"ruto. . .Naruto are you listening?"asked Iruka.

"Uh, yeah sorry I just spaced out there for a moment."said Naruto sheepishly.

"Geez you're always so distracted Naruto."Iruka sighed. "Anyway, I was saying that I think we should meet at training ground three, so that I can help you with everything else that you need. We only fixed you clothes, you have a long way ahead before you can say that you're truly an excellent ninja."

"Hai sensei!" saluted Naruto.

"Just bring a few scrolls and writing supplies, will ya?" said Iruka.

"What I'm takin' notes?"Naruto asked, aghast.

"Well there isn't any way that you're going to be able to remember everything I have to say so you better take notes, and if you're serious about using fuinjutsu then you better get used to writing, not only writing, but writing neatly." said Iruka.

"Fine!" Naruto threw his hands in the air.

* * *

 **(next day - training ground three - Naruto and Iruka)**

Naruto had sent a Kage Bunshin with money to Higurashi shinobi tools and equipment to buy a few more outfits, he ordered the clone to by a shirt similar to the one he wore, except it wasn't high-collared shirt like he wore right now, but it had sleeves, and pants that he wore except they varied in colour, along with that he asked the clone to buy a few pairs of shinobi sandals and Shuriken and kunai.

"So, I have brought you a few scrolls on areas that you need to focus on." said Iruka. "Now I'm going to be honest with you and I don't want you to get angry, I'm only doing this to help you."

"H-Hai."said Naruto, hesitantly

"Okay, your Taijutsu is very bad." Naruto wanted to interrupt but Iruka quickly continued. "Yes I know that you are third in the class Taijutsu tournament. However that is only because you tank through all of the hits you get, and you're so strong that even a glancing blow is strong enough to slow your opponent down enough for you to finish the job. That, however is your only saving grace, you telegraph your attacks so much that even an infant can tell what your intentions are."

Naruto looked down, but wrote everything Iruka said on a scroll that he brought with him.

"Further more you posses absolutely no form or technique and I know exactly why." said Iruka, Naruto looked up. "its because when you were younger, you were so strong and durable that nothing your opponents did could hurt you. So you got bored, and stopped learning Taijutsu, especially the different forms, locks and grapples that go with it."

Naruto sighed in dejection. "You're right, I suck at Taijutsu."

"It nothing you cant fix, you just have to work at it."said Iruka. "moving on, your chakra control is horrendous, but as a bonus you have a lot of chakra. So you have to improve your chakra control or you wont ever pass the academy. Even if you know the Kage Bunshin, I wont accept that, I want you to master the Bunshin for graduation."

"Fine, but how do I improve my control?" asked Naruto.

"I have two chakra exercises in a scroll for you, they will both help with your chakra control. But I want you to use the leaf concentration exercise first, this will teach you to concentrate and likely help you focus on material and retain it. I mean, in one night you mastered a jonin level skill, with enough concentration I'm sure you could be runner-up for the rookie of the year." said Iruka.

"What you mean runner-up?"asked Naruto.

"Well even if you are better than Sasuke, the rookie of the year is not the one who scores the highest in the last year, but the one who scores first consistently throughout their time in the academy. As you know its quite impossible for you to become the rookie of the year."said Iruka.

"Maybe not, is there a Jutsu to go back in time?" asked Naruto. "then I can go back in time and teach my younger self the Kage Bunshin and make him focus on school and then I'll be rookie of the year this year."

Iruka sweat-dropped. "No there isn't any Jutsu like that."

"Damn!"sulked Naruto.

"Naruto there is no shame in coming second, and if you're better than Sasuke then its just a title, nothing more." said Iruka in encouragement.

"Yeah! You're right I don't need to be the rookie of the year. I'm better than that."said Naruto. "So what's next sensei?"

"Genjutsu, you will likely never be able to use it, and you are completely susceptible to it." said Iruka.

"Uh, what?"asked Naruto in confusion.

"Ninja will be able to easily take advantage of the fact that you cant use Genjutsu or tell when one is being placed on you." said Iruka, in simpler terms.

"Oh! Why didn't you just say that." said Naruto.

"I did." said Iruka, rolling his eyes.

"How do I fix that? You said you don't think I can use it." said Naruto.

"I did, but you can train to recognise when you're under the effects of Genjutsu, and train how to dispel them." said Iruka. "That way it will no longer be a weakness to you."

"But how? I cant use Genjutsu, so who will train me?"

"I will, but only when you have proven that you have completed the second chakra control exercise." said Iruka. "Now all that you have left is your weakness in Shurikenjutsu, all I have to say is train. You need to train everyday to improve your accuracy, its a vital skill to have when you're low on chakra, or you cant use chakra for one reason or another. Finally, your theory work is very important and you pay very little attention to it."

"Aww come on sensei, how will knowing what some guy or chick did over a hundred years ago help me?"asked Naruto.

"That's only history, there are many more subjects; maths, science, geography, chakra theory, strategy. . .it goes on and they all help you in their own way."seeing that Naruto wasn't convinced Iruka explained. "Lets say that you were on a mission, and you needed to infiltrate a fortress, except the fortress has chakra barrier around it that stops those that aren't keyed into the seals from breaching it, and a chakra suppression barrier inside of that, with alarm and alert seals all over the building. It seems impossible to get in doesn't it?"asked Iruka.

"Well yeah." said Naruto.

"Now what if there was 'some guy' that built a series of underground tunnels and bunkers under the location of this fortress, many years before it was built? And you remembered that from your history lessons and the rough location from your geography lessons? You would be able to infiltrate the fortress and bypass its defences by using the theory lessons that you studied in the academy." said Iruka, in full-lecture mode.

"Well when you put it that way. . ."Naruto trailed off sheepishly.

"Exactly, now I know just telling you to study is stupid, because you wont, you need to be interested, you need to be motivated. So, when you get home I want you to practice the leaf concentration exercise until you can keep the leaf on your forehead for twenty minutes, then I want you to keep practising with it until it takes little to no conscious effort." said Iruka. "So, as motivation I'll get you scrolls on fuinjutsu and even give you some help with it if you complete the concentration exercise."

"Yosh! I'll master it no time!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Good." Iruka grinned. "now I want you to take all these scrolls and pack them neatly in your apartment. They have information on all your theory subjects from first year until now. Taijutsu kata, form, grapples, locks, each divided by level - beginner, intermediate, advanced - Shurikenjutsu, chakra control and so on."

Naruto nodded. "Thank you sensei." then his eyes widened when Iruka started unloading small scroll like objects from his pouch and flak jacket.

"They have seals on them that shrink their size, you only need to pulse your chakra into them to deactivate the seals and pulse your chakra again to activate the seals." said Iruka. 'thank Kami Hokage-sama knew of such a seal.'

"That sure is a lot."Naruto said shakily.

"Well you wanted my help."said Iruka.

"Fine, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto crossed his fingers in front of him, a small cloud of smoke covering his person, when it cleared two clones stood beside him.

They each took a number of scrolls and placed them in their pouches, as did Naruto after taking several leaves off of a tree and storing them into his pouch with the notes that he had taken for the day.

"I'll see you when I master the leaf exercise."grinned Naruto.

"Soon then."smiled Iruka.

"You-"said one Naruto

"Bet-" said another.

"Cha!"finished the other, as they left the training field.

"Whoa I didn't know that we could do that." said one of clones when they were clear of any audience.

"Yeah, me neither."shrugged the other Naruto. "its really cool though!"

"Yeah think of the all the pran-"said the third Naruto, before he sighed in dejection. "Oh yeah, no more pranks."

 **(Iruka - training ground 3)**

* * *

"Naruto. ."said Iruka. "You truly could become Hokage if you work hard enough. Not just Hokage but the best Hokage yet. Who would of thought? Naruto Uzumaki interested in seals, heh! I still cant believe it." chuckled Iruka. "still though, he makes the impossible, seem possible. Completing the Kage Bunshin in twelve hours is enough evidence of that."

Iruka smiled. "I'll become the teacher of a future Kage! I'll be just as famous as Jiraiya-sama!" and then he flickered out of the area after forming the tiger seal.

* * *

 **(Naruto** **'s** **residence)**

When Naruto got home he immediately got to work, he sorted out all of his scrolls, packing them all into a shoe box and sliding them under his bed, only keeping the scroll on the leaf concentration exercise with him.

He pulsed his chakra into the scroll and it increased its length. He opened the scroll and got to reading through it. The basics of it was that he had to concentrate his chakra to his forehead where a leaf would lie, the chakra would have to be constant and not fluctuate in any way. The technique taught students how to control their chakra and concentrate.

"Better get to work!" Naruto grinned, he pulled out ten leaves from his pouch and set them on the table. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" a great plume of smoke perforated Naruto's whole apartment and when it cleared there were ten Naruto's standing in the apartment - Naruto and nine clones.

They each took a leaf and placed one on their foreheads, then they all scrunched up their faces and channelled their chakra to the point in their foreheads where the leaves resided and instantly the leaves where blown off of their forehead rocketing off into some point or another in the apartment.

Naruto's clones ran after their leaves, bumping into each other on their way to the leaves. "Oi! Get out of my way!"

"You're the one in the way!"

"Both of you shut up and help me get my leaf, its under the couch!"

"Do it yourself, mines on the ceiling fan! How the hell I'm supposed to get that!"

And then it was an all out brawl leaving only one clone and the original who promptly bopped his clone and the head, dispelling it.

"This is going to take some time."sighed Naruto, while he gathered all of the leaves. He placed each leaf near a wall and far away from the next leaf. He then took a deep breath and formed the modified ox hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Naruto was once again surrounded by clones and he said "Go get a leaf, a bowl of ramen to the clone that is able to master the leaf concentration exercise, and no fighting or no ramen for anyone besides me."

"Hai!" they saluted, before disappearing to a designated leaf. They sat, as did Naruto and scrunched up their face in concentration and placed the leaves on their forehead. The leaf immediately launched into the wall in front of the clones. "Ramen," said one of clones."its for the ramen."

"The ramen."all the clones and Naruto chorused.

By the end of the day Naruto and his clones were able to hold it for a few seconds before the leaf blasted into a wall, some could hold it for a longer duration, while others a shorter duration.

Naruto trained for three hours that day, so with his time plus that of his clones he had trained for thirty hours. So when twenty seven hours of constant concentration, frustration, dreams of ramen and chakra focus came rushing to him all at once without time to process it at all. The ending result was Naruto being knocked unconscious and his head hitting his kitchen table.

* * *

 **(Naruto - the next morning)**

"Ahhh! What hit me!" Naruto groggily pushed his face off the table. 'I feel like the Hokage monument fell on my head. Wait. . .is this your revenge?!" exclaimed Naruto, pointedly looking at the window and at the Hokage stone faces.

"Damn. .this hurts so bad." said Naruto holding his head. "I just need some Ramen. .yeah"he drooled .

Naruto got to work on making himself ramen, and that's when he began to see things whenever he closed his eyes. He saw a leaf blasting off his forehead, but it was all wrong because he was sitting at the kitchen table when he practised the leaf concentration exercise. This leaf blasted against the wall. "My clones memories then." then Naruto began to feel what his clone felt, frustration, anger. Then the clones thoughts. "I need that ramen!"

He had absent mindedly finished his bowl of ramen while he sifted through the memories. It had taken him an hour, and he was finally done with all the memories, a large grin on his face. "So my clones have other ways of doing it different from each other, and I can put it together, and so can my clones next time! Because they know what I know."

Naruto changed into a black high collared shirt with long sleeves, black pants and shinobi sandals. "I need to ask jiisan how to process those memories, I feel loads better after doing it."

Naruto left the apartment taking the last sip of a carton of milk that was in his fridge. It was the same milk from two days ago.

* * *

 **(Hokage** **'s** **residence)**

"So, how have you been Naruto? I see that you've changed your outfit to something more ninja-like." said the Sandaime.

"Hai, Iruka took me shopping two days ago, and I bought more stuff yesterday." said Naruto.

"So what can I do for you?"asked the Sandaime.

"its about my training jiisan -"said Naruto.

the Sandaime cut him off. "You know I cant help you, I'm too busy with my Hokage duties."

"Its nothing like that Hokage-jiisan, I just need to know how to process memories with the Kage Bunshin, I already got lots of help from Iruka-sensei." said Naruto.

"You trained with the Kage Bunshin and got a big headache because of it?"asked the Sandaime smirking.

"How did you - you know what I don't care. Just how do I process the clones memories without bursting my head open first?"asked Naruto.

"First you need to only dispel one clone at a time, over time the number may increase but for now its important that you only dispel one clone. Next you will need to meditate in preparation for the memories, clear your mind and allow the clones memories to take priority, that way you will be able to sort through-" said the Hokage.

"I've got to go, sorry!" Naruto took off running while he clutched his stomach.

"Just come back here tomorrow, I'll have a scroll ready for you."shouted the Sandaime after him.

"Okaaay!"

* * *

 **(seven days later)**

Naruto had retrieved a scroll on meditation from the Sandaime the day after his stomach incident. It was also then when he decided to be less careless about what he consumed, the diarrhoea was terrible, and he didn't want to deal with it any more than he had to.

It took Naruto seven days to complete the leaf concentration exercise to the point where he could keep the leaf on his forehead consistently for twenty minutes. Each day he trained for three hours with nine clones. This amounted to two hundred and ten hours - or eight full days, and eighteen hours - that was the same as training everyday for eight days from midnight to midnight, then a ninth day only short of six hours to be a full-day. The process of sifting through the memories were made better by Naruto's attempts at meditation. He couldn't really meditate, but it allowed him to focus on the memories that were coming in from each clone that dispelled.

Seeing that he completed the leaf concentration exercise to an acceptable degree Naruto went through the hand seals for the clone Jutsu. Concentrating all his attention on Jutsu - that was one of the benefits of the leaf exercise, he found it much easier to concentrate - a clone appeared beside Naruto, there was nothing wrong with it, but after three seconds it lost its colour, and then fell on the floor looking dead and deflated.

"Damn it! And I was so close too!"exclaimed Naruto.

Naruto created ten Kage Bunshin leaving them each with a leaf and told them to focus on the exercise. He would master the exercise if it was the last thing he did. "try walking around with the leaf on your forehead, and don't fight!" he said before leaving.

* * *

 **(Iruka's apartment - Naruto)**

Naruto knocked on the door to Iruka's apartment. He soon heard footsteps and Iruka opened the door. "Naruto? Would you like to come in?"

"Yeah." Naruto walked in remembering to take off his shinobi sandals. They walked into Iruka's living room, the room was a clutter of paper and folders all over the place. "Uh, what is _this_?"

"Oh, its my lesson plans. Its a little untidy though."Iruka chuckled sheepishly.

"Its more than a little sensei." Naruto grinned.

"Yes, well in my profession tidiness is a luxury and getting all your work down is a priority."said Iruka then he asked."So, would you like anything to drink?"

"Water. Just water." Naruto said, his expression becoming pained as if he had remembered something particularly horrible.

Iruka brought Naruto a glass of water, he had a cup of tea himself. "What can I help you with Naruto?" asked Iruka.

"I can now hold a leaf on my forehead for twenty minutes. You said if I could do that you would teach me fuinjutsu." said Naruto.

"Oh yeah I did. Though as you can see I cant teach you now." said Iruka, taking a sip of his tea. "But you don't need my help, not for this part anyway, I'll teach you fuinjutsu during the academy year. For now you can busy yourself with improving your calligraphy."

Iruka disappeared into the back, when he returned he a black case, and two big pads of clear white paper. "On one of these pads there are words, and the other is clear of any kanji, this will be where you practise your calligraphy. In this case there are brushes of different sizes, as well as ink of different qualities and colours."Iruka then procured a scroll from his pouch after setting all the equipment down. "This scroll teaches you how to hold the brush, how much ink to use, how to speed up your writing speed and how it all relates to fuinjutsu."

"Whoa that's a lot!"exclaimed Naruto.

"Why do you think so few people are even interested in fuinjutsu, let alone actually learn it."said Iruka. "Anyway when you have improved your calligraphy to an acceptable degree, it should preferably be the same as your reference. I want you to show me, and if I think its good enough I want you to increase the speed at which you write, and after that I want you to decrease the size. When you're able to do all of that, then I'll teach you the basics."

* * *

 **(Naruto** **'s** **apartment - seven days later)**

Naruto had completely mastered the leaf concentration exercise. He could now walk around with it stuck to his head, without paying it any mind whatsoever. In fact he had leaf stuck to his forehead while he practised his calligraphy.

It was a severely slow going affair, his hand writing went from barely legible to legible to a certain degree but he pushed on. While he practised his calligraphy his Kage Bunshin(Shadow clones) - which each sported a leaf on their forehead each read a scroll on basic anatomy and physiology. When Naruto practised his calligraphy his clones had copied all the information from one scroll to several others, so that they could all study the same thing at the same time.

It was after his clones dispelled that and Naruto sifted through his memories that he learned of muscle memory. He also learned that it was a mental skill. "So I can learn Taijutsu kata, Shurikenjutsu and calligraphy with my clones!"

* * *

 **(two weeks later - Naruto)**

Naruto had used his clones to improve his calligraphy everyday for two weeks. They practised for about four hours each day with ten clones. This amounted to four-hundred and twenty hours of training. Basically seventeen and a half days. His calligraphy was now completely legible, though he still had a ways to go before it could be deemed acceptable by any length.

Everyday when Naruto created his clones for study they would stick a leaf to their foreheads and keep it there while they practised their calligraphy. This added a whole five seconds more to the life spans of his clones, however they couldn't move no matter what he did, as soon as he tried they would simply fall over and deflate.

While Naruto's clones trained mentally, Naruto trained physically. Each day he would run around training ground three trying to best his previous days time. Along with that he did push-ups, squats, lunges, pull-ups, crunches and stretched.

He didn't have long before the academy would take over the rest of his time, so he aimed to make the best of the time that he was given. He had only eleven months left to become stronger than Sasuke, or at the very least become the runner-up rookie of the year.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm so amazed by the response that I got from the first chapter, it truly is astonishing. Thank you. Now then, this chapter was mostly a filler, I** **'** **ll try and get the academy over and done with as soon as possible. I also tried to make Naruto's training with the Kage Bunshin semi-realistic. Thoughts, comments, drop a line and tell me how you feel, any suggestions are welcome.**

 **Naruto will soon begin his fuinjutsu training, I have plans for this don't you worry my good readers. I don't think I've read a story that will have the things with fuinjutsu that mine will have. It may just end up annoying all of your or you will like it. Also since its obvious that Naruto is going to fuinjutsu, drop some suggestions of what you would like to see, fuinjutsu wise.**

 **I'm still up in the air about elements, I think I have one chosen, but the other is a mystery and I think I'm going to keep it at two elements.**

 **I'm also thinking of writing a Naruto with siblings fic, so keep a lookout.**

 **Yeah I'm not answering any review because they would spoil the story, though I am taking all your reviews and suggestions into consideration. Be warned though, Naruto will be much stronger than canon, some may consider him op, not now but later on in the story, like after the three year training trip.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A year too early**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

 **Chapter 3: Fuinjutsu and Genjutsu**

* * *

Naruto had been in his fifth academy year for a month and he had finally brought the quality of his calligraphy to acceptable enough to begin his fuinjutsu studies. He had the aid of his Kage Bunshin(Shadow Clone) to thank for this. He had moved the amount of clones he used to twenty which doubled his rate of progress.

Something that would have taken him at the very least several months to accomplish, he did it in one month. Now all he required to do was start studying the actual material. So, as a result Naruto had instructed his clones to study the first year material by subject until Iruka found the time to instruct him.

They had copied all of the first year work on to twenty scrolls, each one for a clone. Soon he would catch up his first year of academy theory - provided that he had twenty clones study the theory for four hours everyday for about three months - and he wouldn't only catch up he would be able to recall it with same degree of certainty that Sakura could.

Naruto thought about the first day back at the academy, his classes opinion of him really irked him.

* * *

 **(Academy - fifth year - one month prior)**

Naruto took his place behind his chair as he waited for the rest of the students to come to class. He had arrived early so there wasn't much else that he could do about it.

Today Naruto wore a sleeveless high-collared maroon shirt, black fingerless gloves with a metal plate behind the palm, mid-calf length black pants with combat wraps around the ankles and dark blue shinobi sandals.

"Ah, Naruto-kun I see you're here early." smiled Iruka.

"Yeah, I might as well get an early start on the day, this just seems a bit to early for the academy." said Naruto.

"Rather early than late I always say."said Iruka.

"Yeah! That's right I cant be Hokage if I don't make sacrifices." exclaimed Naruto.

"Give it a break will ya? Its too early to hear about your dreams of becoming Hokage."sighed a lazy voice.

Naruto looked at who it was. "Shikamaru? You're here early."remarked Naruto.

The boy had shoulder-length hair tied into a pony tail that resembled a pineapple and narrow brown eyes. He wore a pair of silver hooped earrings, a short sleeve grey jacket, a fishnet shirt with green lining, mid-calf length brown pants, combat wraps around his right leg, and dark blue shinobi sandals, he walked with his hands in his pocket and his back was slouched forward.

"Yeah well. ."Shikamaru sighed. "Three - Two - One."

"Good Sasuke-kun isn't here yet, its a good thing I got your mom to wake you up early so that I would have first dibs on the seat next to Sasuke." smiled Ino, cutely.

"Uggh what a pain, just leave me alone ,will ya? I'm going to take a nap if you don't mind." said Shikamaru before plopping down in the seat next to Naruto's and promptly falling asleep.

"Geez, who falls asleep so fast?" asked Naruto in astonishment.

"Shikamaru obviously," said Ino, she gave Naruto a once over. "I like the new look by the way," said Ino, a feeling of pride overcame Naruto, "got fashion tips from Sasuke-kun?" and then the pride was soon thrown out the window.

"No, I picked these out myself."said Naruto.

"Copied him then?" she asked.

"No."

"Well he had it first, so what else do you call it?" she asked.

"And he copied the rest of the Uchiha clan, so its not like its original, ya'know?"replied Naruto.

"Yes, but he inherited it, so it doesn't count."said Ino, smirking in triumph.

"Oh, so Shikamaru isn't a lazy dresser." said Naruto.

"Of course he is, what are you blind? And why are you changing the subject."she asked in annoyance.

"Because the rest of his clan dresses like that, and so that means he inherited it. So it doesn't count." said Naruto folding his arms.

"That makes no sense, they don't dress remotely the same."said Ino.

"But they dress lazily, so same difference."shrugged Naruto.

"Whatever."she huffed.

Then Sakura came barrelling into the class. "Did you think you could get past me? I will have the seat beside my beloved Sasuke-kun!"

She was a girl with long pink hair, bangs framing the side of her face, deep emerald eyes, and a larger than average forehead. She wore a red qipao dress that split at the hip, a zip down the middle, curving at the side near her ribs, it had a white ring on the bottom of half and another one on her upper back, black biker shorts, with combat wraps on her thigh, and dark blue shinobi sandals

"Sasu-Naruto! What the hell are you doing dressing like Sasuke-kun!? Stop trying to be cool!" exclaimed Sakura.

Naruto had just enough of this. "Shut up! I'm not dressing like Sasuke!"

"Don't tell me to shut up!"shouted Sakura, red faced.

"Oi! Sasuke when did you dye your hair!"exclaimed a boisterous voice, it was accompanied by a bark "riff!"

"Oi I'm not Sasuke! I'm not trying to be him! Just lay off!" exclaimed Naruto, not liking what Kiba was saying, not one bit.

Kiba had spiky brown hair, slitted brown eyes and red fang like makings on each cheek. He wore a grey fur-lined hoody with the hood pulled over his head - on top of that a puppy with shaggy white fur rested. A fishnet undershirt, dark-grey that reached his mid-calf with combat wraps around his right thigh, and dark blue shinobi sandals.

"I think it suits him." said mellow voice. Naruto looked over at Choji, a boy with spiky brown hair, narrow brown eyes, a swirl on each cheek, and a rather rotund body. He wore a white shirt with kanji for food on it, a white scarf, a short-sleeve green haori, combat wraps over his forearms and hands, black shorts, combat wraps around his right leg and around his calves, and dark blue shinobi sandals.

"I concur." said another boy, Shino Aburame, a boy with bushy brown hair, a light skin tone and he was quite tall for his age. He wore a dark grey high-collared coat with a hood, mid-calf length dark pants with combat wraps around the right thigh and dark blue shinobi sandals.

"Hmff! You guys are only saying that because he looks like Sasuke-kun." said Ino.

After a while Sasuke appeared in the class, he silently sat down next to Naruto, paying no mind to the rest of class. "Naruto move right now!" exclaimed Sakura.

"I want to sit next to Sasuke-kun!" exclaimed Ino this time, they glared at each other.

Naruto not wanting to get in the middle of that chose to vacate the area, but before doing so he picked up Shikamaru and slung his arm over his shoulder, he wouldn't leave Shikamaru there, he wasn't evil.

* * *

Naruto didn't remain idle with his training because he was behind on his theory work. No, he created ten clones in the morning to train for four hours in the academy Taijutsu style, only the kata though. He had them using the same kata for a couple of weeks, just going over and over the movements, he wanted it be an unconscious effort when he used it in a fight.

It was a basic kata, it consisted of a straight right punch, then a left, followed by a punch to the stomach or solar plexus, it finished with a spinning kick with the outside of the foot and stepping backwards into a defensive stance.

It wasn't difficult, but he wanted it to be instinct instead of thought, that with rest of his kata and techniques he learned. He also continued working on his physical conditioning for about an hour each morning and three hours in the afternoon while his clones studied.

* * *

 **(Two weeks later)**

"So you're ready to learn fuinjutsu?" asked Iruka.

"Hai." said Naruto. "You said my calligraphy is acceptable."

"Yes it is, okay I'll explain it to you first and then I'll show you, after that I'll leave you to work on it by yourself. But do not ever activate a sealing formula unless I or Hokage-sama has seen it. Is that clear?"

"Hai." Naruto gulped nervously.

"Good, you understand." said Iruka. "Now fuinjutsu isn't that different from Ninjutsu, its just more theory orientated. You see Ninjutsu and fuinjutsu work under the same main concept, chakra or yin and yang chakra commonly referred to as physical chakra and spiritual chakra. Then there are seals, in Ninjutsu we use hands, and in fuinjutsu we use formula. So when all the seals are written down, and chakra is added it gives the sealing formula form.

"Since you will be starting with level one, I'll give you examples with a storage formula. The storage formula is space/time fuinjutsu in its basic form. The storage formula creates a pocket dimension with chakra and seals. To achieve this we place chakra receiver seals on the sides of formula, then we couple it with chakra stabilisers and limiters which is linked to a chakra containment seal and chakra redirection seals, next we add the dimensions of the pocket dimension - though this is done in chakra-metric - it is linked to a perimeter seal, the spatial seal and it is linked to the chakra barrier seal with linking seals, next is a basic barrier seal - to contain everything inside of dimension - linked to the chakra containment seal through chakra redirection seals, then we have a chakra beacon seal that is coupled with a transference seal.

You see how this all works is when you add chakra to the chakra receiver it sends it to the chakra storage formula through the stabiliser and limiter, which reroutes the chakra from there with chakra redirection seals, to the chakra barrier and spatial seal, once that's done it activates the spatial seal that creates space or an area and the barrier keeps everything within the dimensions of the seal and that is linked to perimeter seals and dimensions seals, next the chakra storage formula sends chakra to the chakra beacon, it sends a pulse of chakra - like a signal - to the transference seal which opens up the link with the pocket dimension and sucks in objects placed in the transference circle or spits them out depending on whether the pocket-dimension has any objects or has none. If it has none it will suck in objects, if it has objects it will spit them out. This is only the basic sealing formula.

"Whoa can you show me?"asked Naruto, he had been taking notes, much to Iruka's surprise.

"Sure." he smiled before taking out a blank scroll, ink and a brush. He painted along both sides. "This the chakra receiver seal, and that's the chakra limiter seal," he pointed to four seals that were positioned each side of the scroll, he then pointed to two seals that were in the corners paralleled from one another. "those are the stabiliser seals." he continued drawing the seal, he had four seals before he pointed out more. "That's the dimensions seal, as you can see inside is the chakra-metric measurement, three chakracks squared - which is the equivalent of twenty centimetres squared - next is the chakra barrier, the spatial seal, the perimeter seal, and chakra containment seal," he continued on, "next we have the chakra beacon and chakra transference seals. Now we link all the seals together with a linking or coupling seals and chakra rerouteing seals.

"We link the chakra receivers to the stabilisers and limiters by using linking seals, from there we link it to the chakra containment seal with chakra rerouteing seals, we link the chakra containment seal to the barrier seal with chakra rerouteing seals, The perimeter and dimension seals are linked to the chakra barrier and spatial seal with linking seals. The chakra containment seal is then linked to the chakra beacon seal with chakra rerouteing seals which is linked to the chakra transference seal with linking seals."

"Whoa this so cool!" exclaimed Naruto. "its even cooler now that I know how everything works, uh. .sorta."

"What don't you understand?" asked Iruka.

"Why do you use linking seals to link seals, and chakra rerouteing seals, why don't you use just one?"asked Naruto.

"Because linking seals link different seals together that need one another to perform a task, while chakra rerouteing seals send chakra from the containment seal into the other seals. You see the chakra receiver seal is linked to the stabiliser seals and limiter seals in case someone has bad chakra control or sends too much chakra into the receiver. From there they are linked to chakra containment because they remain with the chakra to keep it stabilised and limited throughout the seal, the chakra runs from the receiver to the chakra containment seal through chakra rerouteing seals - much like the chakra regulatory system in humans - from the containment seal chakra rerouteing seals are linked to the barrier seal which is linked with linking seals to the dimensions seal, perimeter seal and spatial seal which as you can guess is vital, if there isn't a spatial seal there would be nowhere for the barrier or anything else to go and the seal will collapse. Another rerouteing seal runs from the chakra containment seal to the chakra beacon seal which is linked with a linking seal to the chakra transference seal. A chakra rerouteing seal also runs between the chakra beacon and chakra transference seal. Do you understand now?" asked Iruka, taking a great gulp of tea to aid his severely parched mouth.

"Yeah that's much simpler. So when do I start learning storage formula?"asked Naruto.

"Not until you learn all the basic seals that make one up. Namely : Chakra Receiver seals, Chakra Stabiliser seals, Chakra Limiter seals, Chakra Containment seals, Linking seals, chakra Rerouteing seals, Chakra Barrier seals, Perimeter seals, Dimensions seals, chakra beacon seals, spatial seals and chakra transference seals." said Iruka. "I want yo study all the theory behind them and practise drawing these seals perfectly before you even attempt to create a storage formula of your own."

* * *

 **(Naruto - two months later)**

Naruto had finally mastered the theory of every seal that he needed to complete the storage formula. He could draw them directly from memory, in fact whenever he had free time in class he would draw the storage formula, he never activated or fed it any chakra, nor did he use chakra conductive ink.

Though he would show off his mastery of that particular seal after class. "Hey Naruto what you drawing?" asked Choji as he munched on his potato chips.

"Fuinjutsu." said Naruto.

"Fuinjutsu? I think my dad told me about that." replied Choji.

"You're drawing fuinjutsu?" asked Shikamaru. "We only start with fuinjutsu in the third term. How troublesome."

"Well I'm pretty sure that I've mastered the storage formula: Level 1: grade 1, I just need to get it evaluated." replied Naruto.

"Geez, rather you than me, dad is always saying that Fuinjutsu is always such a pain." replied Shikamaru before going back to sleep.

Naruto could barely pay attention to anything that was going on in class as he waited for the bell to ring. "Okay, that's class." said Iruka. "Remember, I'll be checking your homework for the past month tomorrow so it all better be done."

He received groans from most of class, but Naruto stayed quiet as he waited for the class to file out. "Naruto-kun? What can I do for you?"

"I think I've mastered the storage formula, I just need you to evaluate it." said Naruto.

"Okay, lets go to Hokage-sama, I'm supposed to attend a meeting with him, but I think that he wouldn't mind if I brought you along to show him your fuinjutsu. He definitely has a better eye for it than I do, so he will spot any mistakes that you make." said Iruka. "We'll stop by at your apartment first to get the supplies."

* * *

 **(Hokages office - Naruto and Iruka)**

"So, you've taught Naruto some fuinjutsu?"asked the Sandaime.

"Only the basics, I didn't even know that he had began practising the storage formula, I thought that he would still be on the individual seals for another month." said Iruka.

"Well then, lets see what you've got Naruto-kun."smiled the Sandaime.

Naruto got to work, he drew the formula, he was meticulous with every seal that he drew, he gave it his full concentration. When he finished about ten minutes later, he paused and scanned through the seal, his finger hovering over every seal and tracing it along from seal to seal. He appeared to be happy with it. "Okay, I'm done." said Naruto.

The Sandaime took the scroll scanning through the seal, raising his eyebrow as he did so. Naruto gulped nervously but remained quiet. "This is quite impressive, how long did this take you?" asked the Sandaime.

"A month and a half to master the individual seals, and half a month to master the storage formula." said Naruto.

"Shall we see if it works?" asked the Sandaime.

Naruto gulped, but nodded. He took the scroll form the Sandaime, laying it flat on the desk, but he was surprised to see the Hokage handing him his hat. "Whoa you're already giving me your hat Hokage-jiisan?"

"No I want you to seal it, so get to it." smirked the Sandaime.

"But what if-"said Naruto nervously, but the Sandaime raised his eyebrow. "Never mind." Naruto took the hat and delicately placed it on his seal. He took a breath before placing his fingers on seal and pumping chakra into it.

Suddenly there was a great cloud of smoke, as Naruto chakra rushed into every seal and when the smoke cleared the hat was gone. "It seems to work, lets see if I'll get my hat back."

Naruto pumped chakra into the storage scroll and once again there was a great puff of smoke and when it cleared a hat remained in its wake. "Congratulations Naruto-kun you have mastered the storage formula level 1: grade 1."

"Alright! I'm the best 'tte ba yo!"exclaimed Naruto.

"Now, I think you deserve a reward." said the Sandaime. "Come here tomorrow and I'll have a few formula ready for you with all the theory."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Naruto grinned.

"Oh and Naruto don't use the storage formula any more today, tomorrow I have to explain something to you." said the Sandaime.

"Okay, see ya Hokage-sama, Iruka-sensei!" exclaimed Naruto as he left them to their meeting.

* * *

 **(Naruto - training ground three )**

Naruto avoided a punch from his clone by stepping back, but his clone stepped forward once more undeterred and punched him with the other hand, Naruto lifted his arm in a swinging arc knocking the punch aside, then his clone continued, it sent a punch into his stomach which he blocked with by crossing both of his hands in front of his stomach, palms facing outward. His clone didn't stop there, he spun around with a outside kick aimed at his head, he ducked under it and swept the leg his clone was standing on.

"I have the combination and counter down." said Naruto proud of himself. "I also have everything up to fourth year tested, besides the grapples and locks."

Naruto created a clone and got to work. Naruto's clone sent a swift punch at Naruto, who blocked it, then had to duck under another one, but he was too slow to avoid an elbow to the head that rattled him. His clone took advantage of this by snap-kicking his stomach, Naruto lurched forward. "Damn boss you're so weak!" exclaimed the clone.

Naruto grunted, he looked up and saw his clones fist approaching his face, he grinned, he stepped back, catching the clones wrist, then he fell to the floor pulling the clone with him, as they fell Naruto wrapped his legs around his clones arm and the right around his neck and squeezed. "Sankaku Koshukei (Triangle choke)" and the clone popped out of existence.

Naruto not having enough created more clones, they came rushing at him, one clone threw a punch, which Naruto ducked under and side kicked the clone who was saved by another clone appearing behind Naruto grabbing him around the waist, trying to pick him up, Naruto tried to grab the clones hand, but its grip was too strong so he chose a finger instead, as he was pulling it back one of his clones had taken advantaged of his restrained form and aimed a high side-kick at his head, Naruto immediately went limp bringing all his weight forward.

The kick sailed over Naruto and hit the clone behind him dispelling it, because he no longer had anything holding his waist Naruto fell forward, but he had anticipated that and rolled, he exited the roll and got behind the clone that tried to kick him and grabbed him around the waist. "This is how its done 'tte ba yo!" he picked up the clone, arched his back and raised himself to the tips of his toes and fell backwards, bringing the clone down on its neck. "Atorasu Hokai(atlas collapse!"

The clone popped out of existence, and Naruto fell on to his back. Naruto was surprised too receive a kick to the stomach from his clone, he tried to cover himself from more hits but another clone joined in, and they started mud-stomping him.

Naruto continued taking the blows. "Ommf!" then another "Oopff!" the blows continued to rain, but Naruto managed to get his arms up to the block the blows, but the damage was already done.

'I just have to time it right.'

Naruto waited until his clones kicked him at more or less the same time. Then he rolled as they lifted their legs for another kick. He rolled again to avoid another kick, and he found his way to his feet. "Arrgh! What the hell guys I'm the original! You cant be hurting me this badly."

"It will only make us stronger." said the one.

"Yeah now stay still!"exclaimed the other as it charged him.

Naruto avoided the punch then caught it by the wrist, pulled it towards him and fell back, while he fell he managed to grab the the clones other wrist and he brought his feet into the clones stomach and flipped it, but instead of releasing its wrist he pulled the clone towards him and brought his knees up. "Kyokaku Kurassha(Rib cage Crusher)!" and the clone crashed into his knees and burst into a cloud of smoke, he quickly rolled out of the smoke, grunting as he did so, and waited for the last clone to attack.

Suddenly his clone appeared from a tree with a axe-kick in mind, the clone brought his heel into Naruto's shoulder, but Naruto trapped the offending limb within his left hand and right shoulder, the clones eye widened. "No boss, please!" Naruto brought his right hand into the side of the clones knee and dispelled it.

* * *

 **(Hokage's office - Naruto)**

"Ah, Naruto-kun." said the Sandaime.

"How's it hanging Hokage-sama?"asked Naruto.

"You know the title loses its respect when you address me so informally."sighed Hiruzen.

"Well you got me to say Hokage-sama, that should be enough." Naruto grinned.

"Indeed." said the Hokage. "And I'm good thank you for asking, and what about you?"

"Great! Now where's my prize?"Naruto grinned, then his tone turned serious. "and what did you want to tell me about my storage formula?"

"Ah yes, I better I explain myself. I may have worried you unduly" the Sandaime chuckled. "all I wanted to tell you is to not seal any organic matter into the level one seal."

"Why?" asked Naruto curiously. "Isn't it like a vacuum sealer in there?"

"No, it just is, when you seal organic material it needs to be a level one : grade two sealing formula, because there is no oxygen to keep it alive. This only works for live animals and plants. If its dead and you want to preserve it you will have to use a level two formula, which most people use anyway."said the Sandaime.

"What's the difference?"asked Naruto.

"Its not major, but the level one: grade two seal has oxygen and other elements and compounds included to sustain life. Its quite useless because you would have to seal food and water in there as well. Then the last, yet most useful basic storage formula is the level two: grade three storage formula, it includes everything from the first two seals, plus it has a time suspension seal. So, for example if I sealed an apple into one of these an unsealed it fifty years later it would be exactly the same as when I sealed it. The time suspension seal basically puts everything that is sealed into it in a state of limbo."

Naruto nodded. "Man that's a long way off for me." sighed Naruto.

"Not to worry Naruto-kun, I have three Formulas for you to busy your time with, and they use more or less the same seals as the storage formula." said the Sandaime as he handed Naruto three scrolls. "storage formula : grade two, two point barrier seal and the lightning paralysis seal."

"Thanks Hokage-sama! This is so cool!" said Naruto. "yes, but I only want you to continue with it if you have mastered everything taught so far in the academy."

"Aww, come on! It so awesome." replied Naruto.

"No, you have to master the basics before you move on to the more advanced." said the Sandaime. "How is your Taijutsu?"

"I've mastered the academy Taijutsu, I'm thinking of branching off to one of the original leaf styles, but I'm not sure which." replied Naruto.

"Hmm. . ."said Hiruzen thoughtfully. "Well I only know of a few, there is of course the senju and Uchiha styles - the diluted versions of them - there is the hard-fist style, those are the styles I can think of from the top of my head."

"I'll look into it I guess." replied Naruto, "Hokage-sama, am I a true Uzumaki?"

"What do you mean?" asked the Sandaime.

"Well I did some research on fuinjutsu and it mentioned that the Uzumaki clan were specialists in it. And I was surprised that they had the same last name as me, ya'know? So I did some research on them, but it said that they were wiped out in the second shinobi world war."said Naruto.

"Naruto you are indeed a true Uzumaki, I cant tell you who your father or mother was because they were very powerful and had too many enemies to count. If your parentage was known before you were strong enough to protect yourself or had already made a name yourself, assassins would not only be sent after you, but also those that you care about." said the Sandaime gravely.

* * *

 **(Naruto's apartment)**

 _ **Uzushiogakure no Sato**_

 _ **The inhabitants of Uzushiogakure were known for their incredible life spans due to their immense yang chakra. Outsiders often called it the village of longevity or the villages of long life. However those that understood the reason for their long lives called it the village of life energy.**_

 _ **Uzushio didn't have many allies, because - much like Kirigakure no Sato - they were an island nation, and as such they were isolated from the rest of the shinobi world. However, they did have one ally that is noteworthy, Konohagakure no Sato. They achieved this alliance through a political marriage between the senju clan of Konohagakure and the Uzumaki clan of Uzushiogakure, even before this they were on friendly terms because of the distant blood relation between the senju and Uzumaki clans.**_

 _ **As a mark of their relationship Konohagakure no Sato wore blue spirals emblazoned on their flak jackets and shirts. Uzushiogakure returned the favour even more so by adorning not only the symbol of Konohagakure no Sato, but also the symbol of Hi no Kuni**_

 _ **Some of the most noteworthy clans hailing from Uzushiogakure were the Uzumaki clan, the Tosuke clan and the Tosake.**_

 _ **The Uzumaki clan joined with the Senju clan of Konoha through a marriage between Hashirama Senju - the Shodaime Hokage - and Mito Uzumaki. Not too long after their union a Uzumaki clan mask storage temple was built on the outskirts of Konoha in honour of the Uzumaki clan.**_

 _ **The Uzumaki clan was renowned for their prowess in fuinjutsu all over the the world. So much so that the Shodaime Hokage enlisted their help to seal the captured tailed beasts that he had gifted to the other great shinobi villages.**_

 _ **Aside from their sealing techniques the also had other peculiar abilities. They have incredibly powerful yang chakra, so much so that their lifespans are almost triple that of a normal person, additionally they also seem to age slower, when an Uzumaki reaches the age of one hundred and forty, they seem to be not a day older than fifty.**_

 _ **The Uzumaki clan have also been documented to hold great stamina, so much so that even a genin of their clan was recorded to throw around a-ranking Jutsu as if they were elite jonin. Coupled with this they are able to recover from wounds and recover their chakra at a much faster rate than normal shinobi.**_

 _ **They also had a great inclination to the healing arts, even if their methods are not traditional.**_

 _ **The clan is also known for the their mastery of chakra in its many facets. Even the most mediocre of Uzumaki were accomplished sensors. The clan was also reported to have the ability to suppress their chakra completely, which was a great boon to missions regarding stealth, infiltration and none of the Uzumaki's abilities were more powerful than their ability to create barriers. Their barriers were renowned for being completely unbreakable.**_

 _ **The Tosuke clan - also known as the demon fire clan - were a clan from Uzushiogakure alongside the Uzumaki. This clan was known for their great mastery over the fire element, so much so - that like their cousin clan the Tosake clan - they had evolved it to the black element. Not much is known about the black element only that it had been achieved in three elements and only by two villages. Kumogakure's Raikage, and the Tosuke and Tosake clans.**_

 _ **The Tosuke clan were able to manipulate black fire. This fire was so hot that not even water Jutsu could douse its flames. The only thing capable of dousing these flames were the black waters of their cousin clan.**_

 _ **However to achieve the black element was rare occurrence in this clan. Though that didn't detract from their skill because even their average Katon Jutsu were immensely dangerous in combat. In fact they were the only match for the Uchiha clan in Katon Jutsu.**_

 _ **The Tosake clan like their cousin clan were known for their black element mastery. Though their element was water. The techniques had been documented to take the form of Hyoton techniques, yet it still retained a degree fluidity.**_

 _ **Unfortunately the clan only ever produced few shinobi that were able to evolve their water release techniques to this state. However, much like their cousin clan this did not make them weak. No far from it, they actually had such mastery over water release that they could rival the Nidaime Hokage.**_

 _ **Additionally, they were responsible for most of the water techniques used today. The last and most powerful ability was known as pure water. Every clan member could harness this ability, it was their Kekkei Genkai. It is said, that this clan had the ability to use pure water chakra. There are even some that say that this ability could take down a tailed beast - the rumours were that Mizai Tosake had used this ability to destroy the Hachibi forcing it to take years to regenerate- but it cost them their lives at the end of their technique - though only the large scale techniques.**_

 _ **Uzushiogakure's downfall**_

 _ **The downfall of Uzushiogakure no Sato was brought on by the elemental nations' fear of the Uzumaki clans fuinjutsu, as well as the great and obscure powers that the rest of its clans possessed.**_

 _ **So, in a surprising show of unity Kirigakure of Mizu no kuni, Iwagakure of Tsuchi no Kuni and Kumogakure of Kaminari no kuni joined forces and attacked Uzushiogakure. Even the villages great power was not enough to stop the might of three great shinobi villages, however they still took a great number of shinobi to their deaths with them.**_

 _ **The Uzumaki and Tosuke clans were the only known clans that escaped the massacre, and even then it was mostly children of the clan, and in the case of the Uzumaki, they were splintered off into different villages, and only few remain in the world.**_

 _ **After Uzushio fell the spirals as the symbol of the friendship between Uzushio and Konoha changed, it was no longer blue, but red. The spiral was now stained with the blood of the Uzumaki.**_

Naruto put down the book he was reading, anger colouring his expression. He had a clan, he had a family. They were all wiped out for what? Because the rest of the ninja world besides Konoha and Suna were jealous of their power.

Fear? Why were they afraid? Because they wanted war with Konoha and they absolutely knew that Uzushio would aid them, so to give themselves a chance at winning the war and proving their dominance they ironically swallowed their pride and formed coalition to destroy Uzushio.

To destroy the Uzumaki clan.

"That's it! From this point forward, if I ever meet a kiri, Kumo or Iwa shinobi I will give them no mercy. They killed my clan, and they destroyed their village. There is absolutely no way that this will go unpunished." Naruto said resolutely.

It took Naruto a while to calm down, but when he did, he thought about the material that his clones studied. Namely the second shinobi world war. It never mentioned any catalyst for war, but now Naruto knew what caused it. When Uzushio fell Konoha went to war as vengeance. But that begged the question, why was it never mentioned in the academy? In fact the Uzumaki clan was never mentioned at all. He was lucky to even find this book on the Uzumaki or he would never have known.

Then it came to Naruto like slap to the face. "Its because I have the Kyuubi in me. They hate me and know what clan I am from, so they made sure that nobody knew about my clan. So that I was treated like a demon instead of a clan heir. Dammit why must they hate me so much? I'm not the Kyuubi and they have to realise that."

* * *

 **(Naruto - training ground three)**

Naruto was surrounded by thirty clones, each of them were positioned in front of a tree, with a kunai held tightly in their grips. They ran at the tree and focussed their chakra to their feet, as soon as they got within two steps of the tree, the bark of it blasted apart and they were blown backwards.

At least ten of Naruto's clones were dispelled when they hit the ground while the others managed to flip in the air and right themselves, so that they could land on their feet.

"This is so hard boss! Are you sure you read it right?!" asked a clone.

"Obviously idiot I read it before I created any of you, so you should know that I did,"said Naruto said in annoyance, he pulled out the scroll and read it aloud for extra clarity. "The Tree-walking exercise - A shinobi is able to walk on vertical surfaces but channelling chakra in their feet. This exercise has the boon of increasing an individuals stamina and increasing the control of their. It can also be used to. ."

"Damn is that all?"asked another clone.

"Yeah, I know that there is a trick to this, but I don't know what." replied Naruto. "It must be one of those things you learn on your own."

"So why are we here? You should learn this on your own."said a annoyed sounding clone.

"You are me."Naruto deadpanned.

For one reason or another his clones seemed to gain encouragement from this and rushed at the tree. "Yosh! we'll complete it in no time!"

And then they came blasting off the tree, he lost more clones, so he decided that it was time to cut his losses and give his clones a different task. "Okay stop!" said Naruto.

"What? Why? we'll promise to get better boss." said a clone, sounding despondent.

"Because if you keep doing it you're all going to dispel, so I think its better if I focus on this exercise and the rest of you focus on something else."replied Naruto.

"Yosh! Boss is so caring, we wont fail no matter what!" said one of his clones.

Naruto mentally counted his clones. "Okay, there are fifteen of you. So I want five of you to go to the training posts and practise kunai and Shuriken accuracy. The next five should practise Taijutsu kata, and the last five should practise making hand seals."

"Hai!" they disappeared into three different groups and Naruto gave his tree a look. He ran at it, picking up momentum, and he made it two steps before he was blasted off of the tree.

Naruto practised on the tree for about thirty minutes, he had only increased his distance by two steps. "What am I missing? Every time I run up the tree I get blasted backwards."

Naruto relaxed, trying to think. "Just what am I missing?" Naruto closed his eyes and began to meditate. His thoughts focussed on his previous progress. "I'm getting blasted off of the tree, like there is too much pressure, so what I should instead do is lessen the pressure, there doesn't have to be a lot of pressure, since I'm sticking to the tree. It should only be enough to go into the tree."

Naruto nodded, this was his best idea yet. He ran at the tree pushing his chakra into the soles of his feet at he reached the tree. One step - two steps - three steps - six steps. Then he slipped off the tree.

"There wasn't enough chakra when I got up there, so that means. . .it has to be the same." said Naruto.

Naruto tried again this time getting a better result from his efforts. He had broken his last record by around a meter.

He pressed on trying to at least get basic mastery over the tree walking exercise so that his clones could take over.

* * *

 **(Three weeks later - Naruto - Training ground three)**

It had taken Naruto two weeks to completely master the tree walking exercise with is clones. He could of called it mastered in a few days, but he would sometimes loose control of his chakra for a second. So he used thirty clones that trained for two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon and two hours at night.

He could now proudly say that he had mastered the exercise. So much so that it had become a task of the subconscious to walk up a surface vertically. Which is why he was on training ground three at the moment,

"I didn't think that you would master the tree walking exercise to such a degree and so quickly, especially for your chakra capacity." said Iruka. "But as I said its time for me to teach you how to dispel Genjutsu."

Naruto nodded. "How exactly do you do that?"

"Well tell me Naruto-kun, do you know how Genjutsu works?"asked Iruka.

"I've only started studying it recently. So no not really, or I know is that a Genjutsu user disturbs your chakra and uses that to create an illusion." said Naruto.

"That is more or less the basics of it. Now for the whole explanation. Genjutsu is created by a shinobi using their chakra to take control of the chakra that flows within the cerebral nervous system. By doing so the Genjutsu user is able to control a shinobi's five senses. Namely sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. So for sight the user would implant images, it can be combined with smell and touch to make the illusion more realistic.

"Smell can be used to fool those with a powerful nose, such as trackers, or a Genjutsu user can mould their spiritual chakra into a stink bomb for example, and when it diffuses through the air they could connect their to the cerebral nervous system increasing the power of smell thereby giving the Genjutsu user a chance to branch off from the smell of the illusion into other areas, or even take advantage of the distracted state of foe and using it to get the upper-hand. Sound can be used to emulate a high-pitched frequency - that is especially dangerous to those with sensitive ears - that may hurt your opponents ears or just a loud noise while you're hiding from your opponent to fool them into thinking that you are somewhere you are not.

"Touch could be used to inflict illusionary pain, or it can be combined with sight to amplify the effects of sight, such as cold weather, the feeling of rain, hail, snow, it can generate heat, the feeling of electrocution, and so on. Taste is different, the Genjutsu user can place a Genjutsu on someone fooling them into thinking that foul tasting food is delicious, or you could channel spiritual chakra into food, you could program it to connect to whomever consumes the food and cast a Genjutsu on them. This however is easy to notice, and it doesn't last long, so it isn't used often - though it was used a copiously by shinobi of Suna in the poison corps who laced poisons with Genjutsu to hide the fact that is is poison, however it soon fell out practise."

Naruto gave him a thoughtful look. "That is really powerful, why don't more ninja use it?"asked Naruto.

"Because most shinobi prefer the tangible arts, and it also requires precise chakra control."said Iruka.

"Yeah, but I know there are shinobi out there with low amounts of chakra, so why don't they use it instead, it would be better for them. They could probably put their village on the map or something."said Naruto in confusion.

"The truth is. ."Iruka began, "The Uchiha - when they where still many of them - the Hyuga and the kurama clan used to go out on missions frequently - more frequently than any other clan or ninja - when Genjutsu started to gain fame, and because of the Uchiha, kurama and Hyuga's ability to either decipher Genjutsu or specialising in them, the whole movement stopped because of these three clans. Even now that the Uchiha clan is all but gone, it is unlikely for the movement to start up again, because the other two clans remain."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "That makes sense I guess, it will be easier to create Ninjutsu and much harder for their enemies to counter it as easy as they do Genjutsu."

"Precisely, and now I'll explain how to dispel Genjutsu."said Iruka. "To dispel Genjutsu, you need to completely halt the flow of chakra within in your body, and then surge it outward."

"How exactly do I do that?"asked Naruto.

"I brought this as a demonstration." said Iruka as he pulled a scroll out of his pocket. He unfurled it, placed it on the ground and pulsed his chakra into it. There was a small puff of smoke, and then a mattress appeared on the scroll.

"Uh? How did you seal it if it covers the scroll?"asked Naruto bewildered.

"Remote activation."shrugged Iruka before dragging the mattress over to a tree. "Now I want you to walk up the tree, and then stop the flow of chakra to your feet."

"I'll fall." Naruto deadpanned. "Oh right, that's what the mattress is for."

"Yes, you probably have to do it quite a bit to get a handle of it, but when you do, well your chakra control will significantly increase, in fact if you can apply the principles of this exercise to your Ninjutsu, you will not waste a sing drop of chakra on the execution, you may have problems with building up the right chakra, but you will not waste any."

Naruto walked over to the tree, he walked a few metres up and then he stopped channelling his chakra, he fell from the tree and onto the bed, though he flipped in the air and landed on his feet.

"Yes, that's the general idea." said Iruka. "I want you to practice for the next week until you are able to more or less halt the flow chakra without having to actually be climbing a tree. Then I will teach you how to surge your chakra. You will practise this for a week and then we will start working on dispelling Genjutsu."

* * *

 **(One month later - Naruto - training ground three)**

It took Naruto longer than anticipated to master the Genjutsu dispelling technique. However he could now mostly halt the flow of his chakra and surge it, all he really needed to do is put it into practise.

One thing was for sure though, the chakra halting exercise certainly did help with his chakra control. Because he now climbed trees with the exact amount of chakra - which was less than he used before - and his Bunshin no Jutsu had also improved, he could now get his Bunshin to move two steps before it collapsed.

Naruto gave Iruka-sensei is undivided attention. "Now Naruto-kun, I will cast a fairly obvious Genjutsu on you. Its called the illusionary mist Jutsu. What it does is create a mist that surrounds whomever it is cast on. When I cast it, I want you try locating the disturbance in your chakra before you dispel the illusion. If you cant that's okay, dispel it and we'll do it again."

"Why Iruka-sensei?"asked Naruto.

"Well, I want it to become almost natural for you to find a disturbance in your chakra, that way you will not have to rely on analysing a shift in your surroundings which could cost you vital seconds in a shinobi fight, instead you would be able to purge the chakra from your system before the Genjutsu is even able to form." said Iruka.

Naruto gave his teacher a look of awe. "Whoa, I didn't think that you were this strong Iruka-sensei!"

"Well, the only reason I'm even an academy teacher is because I was a hindrance to my team. My problem was that - much like shinobi who focus on one shinobi branch without a thorough grounding in the other shinobi arts - I focussed on all the shinobi arts, not really getting good at anything, just dipping my foot into whatever shinobi art I could find, which is why I can teach you Genjutsu and fuinjutsu. I even know a technique from each of the five elements."

"Whoa can you teach me?"asked Naruto in awe.

"Ninjutsu?"asked Iruka, he guessed correctly.

"Yeah!"exclaimed Naruto.

Iruka chuckled, no matter how much Naruto changed he would always be a stickler for Ninjutsu. "Well after we finish the Genjutsu training I'll teach you a technique, and if you can master that Jutsu by the genin exams I'll teach you another if you pass."

"Yosh I'll get this training done in no time!"exclaimed Naruto.

"Okay then lets begin." said Iruka, he went through hand seals.

Monkey - Bird - Ram

"Genjutsu: Kasumi no Jutsu(Genjutsu: Mist Jutsu)" he completed the Jutsu and Naruto's vision was soon obstructed by a white mist. Naruto focussed on identifying the foreign chakra, or at the very least he tried to find a disturbance in his chakra.

Try as he might, Naruto couldn't find the disturbance, he just had so much chakra that it hid everything else from his senses. Naruto cursed, before forming a hand seal, he stopped the flow of his chakra and then surged it outward. "Genjutsu: Kai(Genjutsu: release)!"

Naruto's chakra washed over him, and dispelled the Genjutsu, the illusionary mist immediately cleared. "Couldn't find it?"

"No."was Naruto negative answer.

"Don't worry, we'll just keep going at it until you can do it. Its not like I expected you to be able to do it it the first time." said Iruka. "Now lets go again."

"Hai!" sighed Naruto, coming to dread this particular training more than he cared to admit. This was not something that he could use Kage Bunshin for. "Lets do it."

* * *

 **DeZoid - I don't know if that will be an option**

 **Lara5170 - well we'll see what happens**

 **RagingSoul - the pairings are undecided as of yet, thanks for the suggestion though.**

 **Dzerx - no problem, your challenge had been rattling around in my head until I put it down to paper.**

 **Chunin33 - I'll try my best to follow your suggestion.**

 **Ezeakel - another in-depth review as always, and though your suggestions show merit im a little up in the air about it.**

 **Macroglas92 - I'll use some of your suggestion but not all of them.**

 **Hennessyswagg83 - thanks for the ideas, they will certainly help me, as you can I understand, I am unable to divulge any more.**

 **Ikage7 - I may or may not use your ideas**

 **All the other review are centred around the same points, but thank you for the suggestions.**

 **A/N: I tried to explain fuinjutsu, its a really unexplored ninja branch in fanfiction, so please tell me what you think? Should i continue on the same vein or simply skim fuinjutsu mechanics from here onwards?**


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